Ordinary World
by Kaji Hikage
Summary: When the promise is fulfilled, six years later, trials of multiple kinds will await Haku and Chihiro.
1. Reminiscence

I DO NOT OWN SPIRITED AWAY BLAST IT. I WANT IT. ~_^ Don't we all though?  
  
PLEASE review. Thankies!  
"Ordinary World"  
Part One: Reminiscence  
There is a land somewhere far away  
  
I'm hearing your voice in my dreams  
  
Always making me believe  
  
That world is not as far away as it seems  
A knock of silence in the colored noise  
  
Fills me in and out with an unspoken affection  
  
Convincing me that somehow  
  
You understand it without my articulation  
And I will try to make my way  
  
Through this paradoxical world  
  
Seeming so strange to me now  
  
In the light of my past, its reality unfurled  
There is a land somewhere far away  
  
I'm hearing your voice in my dreams  
  
Always making me believe  
  
That world is not as far away as it seems  
  
You are not as far away as you seem.  
A young girl, maybe sixteen lay with her head resting on her forearms, eyes closed, dark brown hair let down from its usual ponytail. The precious hair band that normally tied it up was secured safely around the girl's delicate right wrist, sparkling with its own life, the threads woven to make it worth more than anything else, to the girl at least.  
  
The setting was not unusual, a bedroom with furnishings, a few added specifics and it was altogether an airy place to be, spacious with few things cluttering it, none actually. It was almost eerie. No teenager should be this tidy.  
  
And yet, said girl was.  
  
The floor was spick and span, a clean and varnished wood that coincided well with the light pink walls. The shade of pink was so light it might have been a lavender or white but no, it was pink, stolidly so too. Curtains the color of the purest clouds draped themselves liberally across the one window in this room, except that the girl was resting on the sill. So they liberally draped over her instead, the window itself being closed, the girl's face and head being less than an inch away from the window.  
  
CRASH!  
  
Thunder struck and the girl's eyes snapped open, her head shooting up in surprise. Her eyes watched as a sudden downpour began and pattered in droves onto their small town, a town she had lived in now for sixteen years, sixteen just yesterday actually.  
  
Sixteen years of life.  
  
Six years since...him.  
  
"Chihiro! Are you hungry dear?" a motherly voice called to her through the door.  
  
"No mom! Thank you though!" Chihiro sighed as she rubbed feeling back into her arms absently, staring out her window still, into the pouring rain. Six years it's been, since I met you, she thought softly. In all this time she refused to give up on the mysterious and kind river spirit she remembered from even before then. They had made a promise. And any promise, any promise with a spirit, especially him...well, Chihiro had faith, immense faith it would never be broken.  
  
Still...  
  
It had been so long. Often she had worries. What if he was hurt? Could he even come to her world? Chihiro had tried more than once to find her way back to the bathhouse, back to the Spirit World. But somehow it had disappeared, translocated, something. And no matter what she did, she could not find it. She even begged and pleaded until her parents grudgingly let her drag them to the Kohaku River's past location, hoping perhaps to see him there. But as she had reasoned later, after their failed excursion, that place was really all apartments, as she had told him.  
  
Perhaps he couldn't find his way because of it.  
  
And she could do nothing to help him find another way.  
  
Chihiro still cried at times, realizing how much she missed him, his calm warmth and mysteriously uncanny way of knowing when it was good to be silent and when to speak to her, reassure her. He was and, she thought, still is, her best friend. What other reason could she have for her heart squeezing like a vice was gripped around it every time she thought of him?  
  
What other reason than: I miss you Haku, Chihiro admitted to herself, to anything that might acknowledge her sad silence.  
  
Tomorrow, tomorrow I start a new year of school, Chihiro mused as she stood and walked over to her bed, kneeling down on the floor and digging underneath it. Moments later she resurfaced, blowing and waving away the mini clouds of dust as she pulled forth a box. Opening it, her face, before an expressionless mask, lightened, softened even and she smiled. This was one of the only things that could make her smile now, and it was too bad. Chihiro had grown into a beautiful young woman over the years. Though still petite, and though she could still pass for a middle school student, she had her own beauty. Her face was still round, but it had more wisdom in its entrancing eyes, and was, though round, a little more defined. Not much taller, she had remained slender, or rather, grew from skinny to slender, and her hair was the same length it had been six years ago, worn usually in that same style.  
  
"Pink," she whispered as she lifted the pink shoes out of the box and handled them gently. She still wore her yellow ones despite her mother's nagging about their sorry states of nearly falling apart. It was a quirk certainly, but Chihiro could not help but insist on holding onto what, for her, was one of her only connections to what had happened, and what she hoped would tie into what would happen, soon.  
  
Soon...she sighed again, a common sound to hear from her now.  
  
Haku, she thought to herself, Haku do you even remember me, she wondered. It hurt to think he might not and so she didn't do it very often. She refused to believe he ever would do such a thing.  
  
After all, he was Haku. Her river spirit.  
  
Hers?  
  
Sure, why not, Chihiro allowed herself a somewhat rueful smile. He wasn't here now but surely, surely he would be soon.  
  
"Chihiro, honey are you sure you're not hungry?" her mother again.  
  
"Yes mom, I'm fine! Thank you!" Chihiro called back and shrugged.  
  
Yes, tomorrow another year.  
  
Am I ready for it, she wondered yet again, and maybe, maybe this year, maybe this year he'll come for me.  
  
Come for me Haku, she prayed, hoping her dragon, her river spirit, her best friend, would hear her...somehow...hear me Haku, you are not as far away as you seem, you can't be...  
  
I mean, she wondered curiously, eyeing her pink shoe softly, if you're in my heart, you're never so far, never.  
  
"You're in my heart," she whispered, her whisper carrying further than any would think it could across a wide river in the night into a well-lit town to the ears of a handsome boy with vivid green eyes and chin-length black hair.  
  
The boy's eyes softened at the vocalization and his eyes turned to the direction of the wide river where at some points there was a grassy expanse, and he let his own sigh, filled with six years of torrential emotions.  
  
"You're in mine too," his whisper though, did not reach the girl on the side of the ordinary world. That fine line was the bane of his existence. But soon...very soon in fact, he would cross it. A small, almost unnoticeable smile laced with many emotions crept across his face.  
  
Soon Chihiro, he promised inside, as he had done dutifully for the past six years, everyday of his life in the Spirit World.  
  
And he always kept his promises.  
---------------------------------------------  
  
So, my first Spirited Away fic, and its first chapter.don't kill me please. DO review and stuff if you have time please. It means more than words can say to me when people take the few seconds it takes to review. Writing is my life, and I love this movie beyond words as well so please, do review. The next chapter[s] will come once I have some encouragement from you all, okies? ~_~ I know, it's kinda stingy to make it this way, ya know, more reviews = more chapters kinda deal, but my ego needs it...bad excuse.  
  
Er, ahem, but um, please?  
  
-Kaji/ Skuld 


	2. Omniscience

BLAST THE INJUSTICE...I do not own Spirited Away. Bloody world's just not fair. Oh well...read on if you please. ^_~ And REVIEW please LOL. For my insignificant ego I put so much work into. ~_~  
Ordinary World: Part Two: Omniscience  
"Chihiro hurry up! You'll be late dear!" her mother's voice rang up the stairs and down the hall, through the door, straight into her room where she lay sleeping. Rubbing her eyes, Chihiro blinked slightly and her mother's words registered in an unbidden and harried manner. Scrambling out of bed, it was all she could do not to run around like a crazed lunatic attempting to get dressed, and gather her things, tying her hair up haphazardly in its high ponytail with her one and only hair band.  
  
Its purplish sparkles were not of this world, too beautiful for a mere hair band, but no one else seemed to notice.  
  
So Chihiro wore it.  
  
As she ran down the stairs, thud, thud, thud, her feet effectively slapping them into place [the wood had begun to warp after the first two years so sometimes the boards popped up] she ran her tapered fingers absently through her bangs and the two sections of hair on either side of her head, untangling them.  
  
She paused in the kitchen, grabbing the conveniently placed toast from the table, and waved to her mother, only just remembering to grab her bento too before scampering lithely out the front door.  
  
Leave it to me, late on the first day of sophomore year and on a lovely diet of toast...Chihiro thought, mildly amused, to herself. Normally she was quite punctual, the spitting image of a model student for all the time she had been there. Why today was every different, she did not really know, but then again, she attributed her lateness to typical teenage oversleeping. Chihiro failed to realize that in all her years she had never been the victim of such typical behavior and also, failed to remember the dream that had kept her in such a deep sleep.  
It had been a dream filled with green eyes and the feeling of a mild wind rushing against her skin, a feeling vaguely familiar that pulled at the invisible strings attached to her heart.  
But as was said before, she did not remember it.  
  
Still, as she sprinted lithely to her school, pleated black skirt providing easy movement range, there was the omniscient weight of someone watching over her that Chihiro was loathe to ignore.  
  
For it felt like him.  
  
Him.  
  
When she was in the Spirit World, he had a gaze that could turn from unduly intimate to mildly friendly to unreadable in mere seconds, but it was a look that she was not soon to forget.  
  
It was the only one that made her heart move like the wind, which is not to say it moved fast, rather that its beat had different patterns of currents, some slow, some fast, some moderate, and none of them better than the other. Each one as good as the next or the prior, simply because it was his eyes she would feel.  
  
At the time, they were friends, best friends, a relationship forged in a rapid fire of days, mere and mortal days. And then they had parted by obligation, and she was left to return here.  
  
Chihiro, out of breath and worried as she realized no students were in the halls, rushed to her classroom and threw the sliding door open, bowing shamefully to her teacher and apologizing before he could get a word in edgewise.  
  
"I'm sorry instructor! For some reason I slept through my alarm and..." she trailed off, head still bowed, recognizing the undeniably pathetic tone her voice held. She knew if she was the teacher, she would not accept that. Lucky for her this teacher seemed more forgiving.  
  
"It's the first day Ogino, just don't repeat this little mishap," the instructor smiled at her warmly. Nice guy, Chihiro thought as she slowly raised her head and he continued to talk.  
  
"As I was saying though class, this is a new student in the area, so you wouldn't know him. What's your name please?" The teacher questioned and Chihiro stifled a gasp as a composedly familiar voice broke the silence and she lifted her eyes all the way from their previously averted position.  
  
"Kohaku, Nushi Kohaku," that voice made her want to laugh and cry all at once.  
It had been so long...  
The boy was unmistakably him. There was no way he could be anyone else but him. Chin length, smooth black hair with bangs that fell listlessly just over the most amazing deep green eyes she would ever see, framed by a perfect porcelain visage. Tall, taller than her now by several inches. Time did that of course and six years was a lot of time. Chihiro was surprised he hadn't grown more, but was also secretly pleased. She would have felt awkward if he ever suddenly became a tower above her. It would make him seem physically unreachable and that, she was sure, would be one of the worst feelings ever.  
  
Kohaku had been facing the class but slowly he turned to look at her, curiously though, as if he were re-memorizing every part of her, fearful that he might be ripped away from her again by circumstances. And she simply stared back, her eyes conveying everything her lips could not express, even if the class hadn't all been there, gaping at the two students at the front.  
  
Apparently they stood there a mite too long because the teacher coughed politely before directing 'Nushi Kohaku' and Ogino Chihiro to their seats. For once, Chihiro praised alphabetical seating charts. N and O were right next to each other, and so she was placed next to Kohaku, her long lost river spirit, dragon friend, and best friend ultimately as all would agree who knew the duo.  
  
Once they sat down the teacher began his lesson but Chihiro could not stop staring at Kohaku. She was afraid he might fade away from her grasp if she even dared to blink and her heart wouldn't settle itself.  
  
And then, Kami thank the long tables they were all seated at that conveniently hid anything below the tabletops, Chihiro felt a warmth encircle her right hand. It had been hanging limply, dully even at her side as she stared at Kohaku before. Now as she glanced down, another kind of warmth spread throughout her. A hand clasped hers, slightly larger than her own petite hand, but no less graceful.  
  
He was always graceful, even when he was in trouble, he was so quietly assuring, Chihiro smiled softly at the picture their two hands together made and relaxed herself. She had been worried, perhaps, that he hadn't missed her as much as she had him. She had been worried even, that he had perhaps lost his memory of her in coming to this ordinary world.  
  
But as her eyes moved upward, over his school uniform's shoulder, over his smooth neck hidden partially by the collar, up to his face and his beautiful eyes, she felt heat rise to her cheeks when she saw her smile reciprocated in perfect harmony on his face, his lips curved up into a slight smile.  
  
That slight smile was there just for her and somehow she knew that. It might have been the way that warmth from their joined hands traveled mysteriously through both of their entire bodies to make them feel the most alive they had since they had last seen one another. It might have been the soft gaze that spoke volumes in silence that they shared. It might have even been the tentative smiles they laced together like well-strung melodious chords.  
  
Then again it might have been Haku, for he was still Haku to her most naturally, it might have been him saying:  
"Life was dull without you Chihiro."  
  
And she only needed to respond softly, underneath the competitive lecturing of the teacher:  
  
"Life was nothing without you."  
  
That surprised him apparently, for his eyes widened slightly and he did in fact, look genuinely stunned. It was a moment only but Chihiro remembered that look clearly for the rest of her life. That look said that even he, the epitome of beauty in her mind, had his doubts about himself. That look said that her words meant as much to him as his did to her.  
  
That look was the one that became a gradual expression of languid contentment for the rest of the class, all the way to the time when they were dismissed for lunch and exited the room.  
  
And they were still holding hands.  
  
As the crowds of other students dispersed to the lunch courtyards, Chihiro paused and turned to face Haku fully.  
  
"I, I mean it you know. I really missed you," she managed and berated herself for getting emotional as her eyes watered just slightly. She had meant to be stronger than this by the time he came for her.  
  
But he didn't seem to mind.  
  
"I know, you know how I know?" his smile lessened the upset beating of her heart softly. She shook her head. No, she didn't know how he knew everything he knew. And that was a lot.  
  
"I know because I thought of you everyday since you left, and saw in your eyes that to my good fortune, you did much the same thing," he laughed in good-natured amusement and pleasure. It was one time in a long time that Chihiro had heard him laugh and she would later be sheepish to realize that it made her have one of those awfully cliché "warm and fuzzy" moments.  
  
"I never stop thinking of you," she admitted, averting her eyes from his face. He was somehow, too beautiful for her senses to comprehend in this world. In the other world spirits blended nicely together. Here he stood out with a brilliant aura of white goodness, a shroud of perpetual attraction that made him stand out from the rest.  
  
It didn't help that he was handsome all on his own and Chihiro had already noted the many supposedly furtive stares he had received from more than his fair share of the female and male population at school. So when this beautiful angel, no, beautiful spirit gently tipped her chin up to look at him with his tapered fingers, and gazed wistfully into her own eyes [much less impressive than his by her standards, though he would refute that incessantly if she ever brought it up.]  
  
"Like I said, everyday I thought of you. You've been my dream for some time now," his smile turned from the intimate one to the friendly one in a split second and Chihiro wavered mentally from the swift change as he led her outside to sit under the resident cherry tree with him. Somehow they were alone under it, even though there were other students around them, none seemed to come closer than several yards.  
  
Chihiro wondered at that of course but did not complain. Steeling herself, Chihiro called on the boldness she normally held with dignity that Haku single-handedly vanquished with one fell-swoop...or smile. And she leaned softly on his shoulder, him leaning on the cherry tree's trunk.  
  
He didn't mind.  
  
"What took you so long?" Chihiro questioned and he sighed. She felt his heart beat in time with some unnamed life melody.  
"Magical complications," his terse answer was enough for now as Chihiro unconsciously snuggled closer to her friend, returned to her at last on a wind of compassionate faith.  
Across the way, a boy seemed to suddenly appear, silent and observant. His blue eyes skimmed the crowds before him as he found the ones he was looking for. His gaze was undeterminably focused on the lovely young girl and boy beside her, underneath the cherry blossom tree...  
  
Smiling at each other.  
  
The boy smiled too, his vividly amber-yellow eyes flashing eerily in the light. He was as tall as Haku, no shorter no taller and his build was strong yet slender, flesh a healthy shade of tan that contrasted handsomely with his hair. His hair was a platinum blond, debatably white and it was short, parted on one side, unruly bangs hanging over his eyes that made him look almost otherworldly overall. Even in the boy's uniform that all boys wore at this high school: black pants, black tie, white collared shirt and a crimson red blazer if necessary for the weather, he stood out.  
  
But for the moment, no one noticed him because he did not want them to yet. Not yet.  
  
He eyed the young girl beside the boy under the cherry blossom tree pensively, noting every aspect of her, for his objective and partially, he admitted to himself, because she was lovely. Mostly though, he observed keenly for his mission, his reason for being here in this world rather than the one he came from.  
  
My mission...he remembered it clearly.  
  
His gaze never left the two dear friends across the way as he watched them undetected, memorizing everything about them, the way they moved, the way they talked, the way they carried themselves, and most importantly the way they acted and reacted with each other.  
  
That would be his trump card undoubtedly.  
  
How to play it of course was still questionable but, the boy smiled thoughtfully, that's what makes it interesting.  
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REVIEW for next chapter okies? Thankies for taking the time to read and comment. It means a great deal to me.  
  
AND NOW, THE THANK YOU'S TO THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE WHO REVIEWED THUS FAR:  
  
*insane drum roll inserted here*  
  
"MagRowan," thank you! I hope you like all that I have in store for our couple. Aren't they just perfect together? *dies of happiness*  
  
*revives herself to continue her gratitude spree*  
  
"Crazy," I am flattered *ego goes Up a thousand notches* ehehe. I see not very many multi-part Spirited Away fics centering around our favorite couple so I felt the need to do one. [despite the fact that my attempt is little more than pathetic LOL. ~_~ I'm trying though, so thank you for your encouragement!]  
  
"Haru-chan," here's your next chappie. I am glad you enjoyed the first chapter; it means a lot to me when people are nice enough to review when they like my stories.  
  
"Lana," LOL, I am GLAD you told me I must continue. It's those same crazy reviews I am known for somewhat that DEMAND more chapters, kindly of course. So thank you. I am honored. ^_^  
  
"no name please," THANK YOU SO MUCH for reviewing. ^_~  
  
"Dog Girl," thank you as well. I appreciate your insight on my piece thus far and am gratuitous for your compliments.  
  
Alright, s'all for now folks. If you read this far, LOL, you MUST review. You have no excuse. ~_~  
  
-Kaji 


	3. Entrance

Review please. Thank you for reading my story based on the beautiful movie Spirited Away, which I do not own as much as I wish I did.  
Ordinary World: Chapter Three  
If there was any way he could have explained the overbearing difficulties he faced whenever he looked at her, he might have made a go at it and tried.  
  
As it was, he could barely do more than smile.  
  
She really had not changed all that much, a little less skinny perhaps, more slender. But her face still maintained its nearly cherubic roundness that made her so adorable. Yes, adorable. Other guys his age were chasing long-legged, curvy and relatively questionable women [whether or not they were the same age.]  
Of course, he was not like other guys.  
  
Oh no. He just happened to be from another world, or reality rather, where spirits were a common sight and dragons were as surprising as stoplights. He just happened to have made many hard journeys and overcome many difficult trials to get here, in this world, this ordinary world.  
  
For one reason. And she was right in front of him, or beside him rather.  
  
She was the reason.  
  
Not curvy, but feminine, no bedroom eyes but then again, who wanted those staring at you when you were trying to have a level conversation anyway? Again that word popped into his head, adorable. She was, definitely and undeniably so.  
  
"Haku," her voice brought him out from his personal thoughts and he cast a sideway glance in her direction, a slight smile behind his own eyes that always seemed to be there since he had arrived.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Look," his eyes fazed from her face to her upturned right palm, smooth and evenly toned in its fair color, the same as every other part of her, her face, her legs, her arms, all even and immaculate. In that palm something sparkling and purple laid peacefully, as though it knew who it was now put up for exhibit to and was calmed by the mere knowledge that it was someone who knew the potency behind it. Where it came from. Who it came from. And who it made certain its wearer never forgot.  
  
"From Zeniba..." his voice was tinged with pride and a fraction of the contentment he got out of seeing her show it to him. Without telling him, he knew she never took it off once she returned here, not for more than maybe an hour.  
  
"From my friends," her correction was subtle but it prodded him in just the right way.  
  
He smiled down at her and was not surprised to find in his own heart what he was certain he'd felt at the very latest, when last they released hands, six years ago. His hand had not immediately gone back to his side when she slipped out of his reach...for a time that he came to find ended up being much longer than he expected. No it let the air breeze comfortably across his own upward palm, as though asking for its reassurance that one day he would be in a breeze that brought him back to her, or vice versa.  
  
Prayers answered finally, here he was.  
  
Did she really feel the same, even now? He wondered. When she was ten she had called him "a good friend" but at this point that was not exactly the lines along which his mind dwelled anymore. Not to say he didn't want to be her friend. No.  
  
He just wanted more.  
  
Haku's thoughts were once more interrupted as he felt something warm come into contact with his side. His gaze traveled down and his eyes twinkled. Chihiro apparently, was more tired than she let on. For there she lay, head casually leaning unconsciously on his shoulder, her body warmth mingling with his in a comfortable and friendly silence. If this is what he had missed all these years, growing up with perhaps with this stubborn, willful, beautiful, and...he repressed a soft laugh...very different girl, well he could only do one thing. His arms discreetly brought her closer, wrapping themselves lightly around her in a companionable sort of hug.  
  
Try and make up for lost time.  
  
That was all he could do.  
  
"I'm never letting you go again," he whispered down to her sleeping form, allowing himself a slight indulgence, letting his tapered fingers softly tuck some stray strands of hair behind her ear. His new promise, not really needing reciprocation, and their affection were amplified by the raw tenderness conveyed in those simple words, all the emotions he felt when he had been forced to wait, and to pray she had not forgotten.  
  
He was here now though and, everything would be okay, right?  
  
Chihiro shifted restlessly in his arms and Haku was disconcerted by the change in her sleeping expression; it had gone from lax and content to somewhat restless...and was that worry on her face as well? He had half a mind to wake her from whatever unpleasant business was going on in her dreams when his senses picked up on something he immediately knew he should have noticed before.  
  
Spirit...?  
  
No.  
  
Magic?  
  
Yes.  
  
His?  
  
No.  
  
Then whose?  
  
Haku's eyes scanned the area rapidly, faster than anyone else in this world could comprehend and he caught a glimpse of piercing blue eyes, or he thought he did. He was not exactly certain because in less than a second, those eyes were gone and he was staring at an empty area of the courtyard outside.  
  
And Chihiro had stopped her restless sleep, her face now relaxed once more. Did the two correlate? Her disturbed dormancy and the presence of something positively magic in this world, were they connected? Haku really did not want to believe it but his apprenticeship with Yubaba taught him at least a few things.  
  
One was expect the unexpected, even if the unexpected is the worst.  
  
A soft and deceptively kind wind swept over and through the area on wings of the receding sunlight as rain clouds moved in on the school grounds rapidly.  
  
Just the weather, nothing monumental, Haku assured himself as he stared down at the sleeping Chihiro. She hadn't even finished her lunch.  
  
A spatter of water dapped Haku on the nose impatiently, as though it were insulted he hadn't recognized its presence sooner and gotten out of the way. He chuckled slightly.  
  
"Chihiro, Chihiro," he called her, softly, lightly shaking her by the shoulders. Her eyes blinked in a drowsy fashion and that drowsy expression was quickly replaced by a bright smile.  
  
God he could look at that smile forever.  
  
"It's raining," he observed and Chihiro nodded, an amused look on her face that seemed to say: I realized that, thank you. Haku seemingly noticed the silliness of his vocalization and had the grace to clear his throat in slight nervousness and quickly usher her into the nearest school building. Thunder crashed outside as the door slammed shut behind the two and then, wonder of all wonders...  
  
The lights went out.  
  
"Chihiro?" Haku's voice asked the blackness. They had just walked in together so she couldn't have stumbled far in the darkness...  
  
And yet there was no answer.  
  
"Chihiro?" his voice betrayed some of his piling anxiety. These were too many strange occurrences at once...Chihiro's disturbed dreams, for dreams were of potent premonition where he came form and could mean anything from apocalypse to...to something else. Then there were those eyes Haku had spied---a little too late part of his mind added somewhat scornfully--- those piercing blue eyes. And now a random blackout, preceded by an uncharacteristically rapid movement of the clouds.  
  
Still no answer. This wasn't fair. He had just found her again. It had been less than a day. And here he was, separated from her again, by unwilling circumstances.  
  
"Chihiro?" he tried once more before gritting his teeth in a combination of anxious unknowing and frustrated confusion, beginning to edge his way further into the blackness of the strangely quiet school corridors, feeling his way along the walls and lockers.  
  
Haku still had his magic but, what if, by some chance, he was caught by one of the ordinary people, how would he explain? And, acknowledging the type of luck they had had so far, he wouldn't put it past Fate's nasty ways to pull something like that on him. No, strictly human behavior, he reminded himself whenever he was tempted with the supernatural speed he truly possessed or something else equally...questionable.  
  
"Chihiro?" he ventured again as he felt his way around some corner.  
  
The blackness, to his dismay, did not answer.  
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OKAY. CHAP THREE UP! WOOHOO. Review if you have time okay? Thanks, remember, my ego=major pain in the neck, so I need a few reviews to get me to keep going, or to speed up my updates or what have you. ^_~  
  
Thank you to all those who reviewed already! I really appreciate the reviews, especially you people who review after *gets happy tears in her eyes* after EVERY chapter.  
  
Sheesh I LOVE you guys! ^_^  
  
-Kaji 


	4. Prophecy

Review please? ^_^ Ordinary World: Chapter Four: Prophecy 

Chihiro stifled a gasp as she was pulled in a familiar manner in a not so familiar direction. She felt in the darkness for the hand that she knew should be attached to her shirt's collar, pulling her. But there was nothing there. Only the invisible force pulled her in whatever direction it wanted, down what she supposed were the school corridors. And suddenly she was thrown bodily into a room and a second set of doors slammed shut behind her. Chihiro rubbed her head tentatively; this was rather familiar...the head-over-heels kind of literal scenario she had found herself in many times in the Spirit World. She chanced a glance up into the room's uninviting darkness.

The natural light from outside highlighted this darkness; and while outside the dark was there too because of clouds and rain, there was a faint grayish outline to the things in this room because of it. 

"Ogino Chihiro." It was a statement of her name, not a question nor anything else, just a mere statement. 

And it sent shivers down her spine. Steeling herself back to the stubborn resolve she had never quite lost in all these years, still willing to play the part of incessantly persistent brat, Chihiro stared defiantly in the direction of this unsettling voice.

"Who's there?" It wasn't the most intimidating thing she could have said but it was what she wanted to know. Eyes hyper alert and hands unconsciously clenched in tight fists at her sides, Chihiro was a bit disconcerted when a soft but strange laugh met her ears. A shadow made itself known to her and she stared. It was a boy, handsome yes, but that wasn't what was so different, what so captivated her. She was being forced to stare; she couldn't turn her gaze from his...

"Can't look away can you pretty?" he asked, clearly amused and Chihiro scowled in return. Pretty? She had a name...he obviously knew that, so why not use it?

"Chihiro," she corrected tersely.

"Sure, whatever you say, pretty." His blatant taunting was irritating but the fact that she couldn't turn her face from his was even more aggravating. The boy wasn't even touching her and he was controlling her...it was magic. Chihiro noted that his eyes kept changing color...strange. One moment they were a vivid amber-yellow and then, they were a piercing blue...

"What's wrong with your eyes?" Chihiro blurted out, at a loss for what else to say that wouldn't get her into more trouble than she was already in.

"Nothing's wrong with them pretty. They change from time to time, pay them no heed," he approached her thoughtfully, and circled her, as though she were some kind of animal on exhibition.

Chihiro was unpleasantly reminded of the Spirit World and her parents' experience.

"Would you...release me?" she attempted not to sound as contemptuous as she felt of this stranger. 

"Sorry pretty, no can do. We have to wait for him to get here," the boy shrugged and then stopped right in front of her, leaning close to Chihiro's face...too close. Still examining her it seemed, he held her chin---with surprising gentleness---with his right hand, turning her head to the right and then the left, then to the front again. 

Chihiro felt a juvenile temptation to backhand him.

"Who are you?" she questioned, all the while trying against all constraints of the spell to pull back from this boy's firm grasp. 

"Kesuke," he replied shortly and released her chin. He walked over to one of the classroom's desks and sat on top of it idly, looking at her from time to time until Chihiro wasn't sure exactly how long it had been.

"How are you doing this?" she asked unexpectedly. Kesuke raised an eyebrow, as if to say he was surprised she was daring to even speak to him further. 

"I need not tell you," he replied airily and Chihiro seethed. 

"You seriously lack people skills," she commented flippantly and glared at him. 

"It's magic," he allowed, and then was the epitome of silence once again, the patter of rain hitting the windows the only sound in the room. 

"Why are you doing this?" Chihiro ventured.

"It's my mission."

Where had she heard that before?

_I'm coming...I know, it's about my mission, right?_

And Chihiro's eyes widened in recollection. Mission, magic, and an uncanny vibe about him that seemed to scream other world...he couldn't be and yet Chihiro found herself almost certain that he was...he was from _there_. 

"You're a henchman for Yubaba?" she tried. He laughed at her in sheer amusement.

"My, pretty, you are a funny one. I'd like to keep you for myself. But no, the old hag is not my employer," he shook his head, clearly still entertained at the very thought. 

_Then who?_ Chihiro wondered. 

Haku rounded another corner, heading in the direction he felt would lead him to Chihiro; she had a certain aura about her, maybe from being in the Spirit World all those years ago, maybe just because she was Chihiro. Either way, Haku's senses assured him he was going in the right direction. It seemed whoever had instigated this had done it well.

Powerful, Haku admitted mentally and grudgingly. Whoever did this was powerful. 

He continued to edge his way along the locker sides. 

Kesuke rolled his eyes in a temperamentally bored fashion and sighed in a melodramatic manner. 

"He's taking his sweet time isn't he pretty? Let's speed him up a bit, he just doesn't seem to realize the mortal position you're in," he shook his head in a decidedly disappointed manner. He hopped off the desk, eyes currently that amber-yellow so eerie to this world and touched his index and middle finger to her forehead, just slightly. Then, as an afterthought, he added, Chihiro thought perhaps even sincerely, "I'm sorry pretty."

There was an excruciating pain throughout her entire being for one torturous moment and Chihiro bit down on her tongue to keep from screaming. She only managed to stifle the scream to a strangled cry before her body went limp and she knew nothing more. The spell holding her up disintegrated and Kesuke was the seemingly lifeless girl's only support then. Her breath was somewhat uneven and her pallor had gone slightly pale. 

Normal humans were much more susceptible to this kind of thing and she wasn't a normal human...not since she had went to the Spirit World. And that annoying keepsake talisman...that hair tie had made Kesuke unsure of how much power to use on her. He had known both would offer her extra protection and so knowing had used more than he would use on three truly normal mortals...apparently he'd used a bit too much.

But that was why he had done it; surely the one they were waiting for had heard her scream. _He'd_ come running no doubt.

Kesuke shook his head again, almost sadly. He hadn't wanted to do that. But if the dragon-boy didn't get there soon they'd miss the loophole and he'd have to get them back here at the same time tomorrow. Frowning, his eyes became the deep blue they were when he wasn't casting magic and he sighed, gathering the unconscious Chihiro into his arms more comfortably. Her head lolled to one side to inadvertently nest itself against his torso and Kesuke wondered what kind of a reaction this would render from the river god. 

Haku heard her and for a moment was hit with a sharp stab of pain throughout his entire body. It was a fraction of what Chihiro had gone through though, so he regained his senses fast, ignoring the fact that this was not the Spirit World as he set to his human-mode of flight, speeding down corridors to his best friend and the one he knew he'd loved since forever.

Reaching the supposed door, he threw it open, eyes sharply darting around to find familiar piercing blue eyes staring at him as he stepped in. To his discomfort, the door slammed shut behind him again, and there was a locking noise. Trapped. He'd supposed it would be something of that kind but not really considered all the possible escape routes if it was. And then he saw Chihiro in this stranger's arms, not moving. 

"Give her back," he demanded, something cold about his voice that had not been there since he was referred to as 'Master' Haku. 

"Who? Pretty? I don't think so. I rather like her and besides, I have to make it up to her. I didn't mean to hurt her that badly." Kesuke admitted. And though he was oddly sincere, his ever-present smirk did not help his case any and as far as Haku could tell, well, that sincerity was measured on a lenient scale. 

"It wasn't a request," Haku commented and stepped forward. Kesuke, likewise, stepped forward. Haku paused, questioning the actions he could take. Whatever happened, he would not stand for allowing Chihiro to be hurt again...she shouldn't have even experienced that first attack...Haku pushed his remorse and self-loathing for later. Right now he needed to get her away from that...other person. 

"I know," Kesuke replied and shrugged. "I don't recall saying it was. But you know what? You want her, come and get her," Kesuke challenged, a hint of a dangerous undertone in his voice as he held out his left palm and a white vortex formed out of the air. Then without waiting, he threw a smirk at Haku before slipping into it smoothly, Chihiro still in his arms. 

And thinking of nothing but the one he needed to save, Haku followed suit. _I promised her again...and I meant it...I'm not letting her go..._Haku resolved for the millionth time as the silvery-white vortex swallowed him into its endless depths to the world he had only just left...

A flash of silvery light and the clouds parted, the sun shone, people walked in the hallways, classes commenced and a wind carried more of the cherry blossom petals away. 

**Chihiro was unconscious. That much she knew. Yet here she was...in a dream? She looked around. There was nothing but stars everywhere, below her, above her and to both sides. She seemed to be walking in a starry sky. There was an imminent feeling of unease about her, one she couldn't ignore. It told her that soon something would happen, it was the same dream she had been having for a while now...one she had guessed only partially was connected to the same Spirit World she left when she was ten. **

**And like all the times she'd had this dream in the past, she heard a voice, very androgynous and displaced, as though it didn't have a body. Chihiro thought wryly that she wouldn't be all too surprised if it in fact, did not have a body. Either way it always said the same thing and she could never decipher it any better than the first...**

**_"The prophecy begins when first we meet_**

**_Traveling on a river's feet_**

**_Master always of disguise_**

**_We move the fastest in the skies_**

**_And so weathering trials for these two ordinary worlds_**

**_Protect the light's forsaken pearls_**

**_And to firmly protect both places_**

**_Within the constraints of time's compressed spaces_**

**_Take up arms and valiantly fight_**

**_For, Child, thou art our savior, our light."_**

**Chihiro always heard the same thing. She always made the same nothing out of that same thing. And she always woke up to that same nothing she made it into. This time though, even as the fog in her dream closed around her like cool drapes across a grand window of the future, she felt she would be waking up to something different. **

What she didn't expect was for that difference to be vaguely familiar and charming, just as it had been the first time.

Absently her sleeping mind remembered something she'd never really forgotten: _Spirit World..._

And she was for the moment, none the wiser that that was in fact, where she was headed. 

----------------------------------------------------

Chapter Four up. Review if you have time! I love reviews. Thank you to all who are reviewing for me. I appreciate it beyond words. Hope this was an okay chapter.

-Kaji


	5. Awakening

Review please. And thank you EVERYONE for reviewing so kindly thus far. Keep it up! I love it...yes I'm an egomaniac...forgive me. ~_~ Chapter Five, Woohoo! Hope you like. 

**Ordinary World: Chapter Five: Awakening**

Chihiro opened her eyes gradually, as though she were fighting some kind of heaviness that wasn't all related to her normally languid state of being. Raising her right hand to her eyes, she rubbed some sleep from them, blinking as she took in surroundings that were very...familiar.

Lush green grass, brighter than any back home, a tall red building on the near horizon, sunlight on rocks that would be under water in the night...

"So you do remember it," a voice remarked thoughtfully and Chihiro only kept from jumping by gripping the grass beneath her in fistfuls. Suddenly she remembered what happened...she remembered who she was with...and she remembered who she would prefer to be with. 

"Of course I remember," her indignant reply was terse and frowned upon the air even as she spoke.

"Well you never know, spells like that can affect any part of your brain Pretty and I figured I might have knocked a few memories loose, but oh well. Can't win 'em all I guess," Kesuke shrugged, reclining on his heels as he stared at her in thought.

"What?" Chihiro was more than a little agitated with someone she would refer to as her abductor when soft-pedaling it and something else less polite if she were in a rage. As it was she was feeling somewhere in between the two. 

"Your little dragon boy is taking his time in getting here. I wonder if he ran into any of Master's lackeys...hm, no matter. He'll get here, battered or not," and Kesuke shut his eyes and plopped down on the ground in an all out sprawl. Chihiro slammed her jaw shut even as she began to gape. 

"Battered? They're hurting him? What are you talking about? Stupid, open your eyes and talk to me!" Chihiro talked in a blur, frantic at the thought of any harm coming to the boy she loved in more ways than numbers could account for. 

"Whoa, slow down Pretty. He's probably fine, too strong for any of master's so-called lackeys. They're probably eating vortex fragmentations or if they let him get this far, dirt. Don't look at me like that," he added the last part with a mock-plead. 

"Why not? You're nothing but trouble!" Chihiro glowered. 

"I'm hurt Pretty. I didn't really mean for that to pain you as much as it did either," Kesuke replied cannily but no less sincerely. 

"It's not just that, you come in on my life, no, _our_ life, and readily mess things up, just when I think they're about to open up for me again," Chihiro's words died softly as the truth of her own words hit her.

 She had lived a rather dull life, waiting all that time for Haku, just waiting for something else to happen, something else to begin. She had few or no friends, no one she could confide in and just when it seemed one might be there for her, Haku namely, after all that time...it ate away at her subconsciously just to think about it. 

"Pretty," Kesuke for the first time felt kind of uncomfortable, as though for once he had no rejoinder or witty comeback. And he really didn't. He really didn't. Her eyes snapped to meet his, still glaring, but it was a sad, kind of disheartened glare of something stolen, something broken and something contemptuously impaired. 

"Don't call me that! My name is Chihiro. Chi-hi-ro! Get it?" she corrected in a biting tone that she hadn't known she possessed.

"Sorry," he mumbled. Chihiro's glare rattled itself to a look of vague consternation and then confusion.

"What? Speak louder," she all but ordered, being the captive of course. 

"I said, sorry," he enunciated better and Chihiro could tell he wasn't used to having to admit when he was wrong or step down and go as far as to apologize. She felt a twinge less animosity for him, an inch more compassion, the kind she had for most people in reality. 

She didn't exactly like her position or the circumstances he had placed her in, but she couldn't let him go on looking like he did, like a moping stray animal. Apparently he wasn't as tough as he thought. 

"Apology accepted," she responded, and even tried a tentative smile with this strange boy from another world. 

"Thanks," he said.

"So why am I here?" she wasted no time and Kesuke moaned and turned away.

"Can't tell you," he muttered and she cocked her head to one side.

"Why not?" the childish implication of the never-ending game of 'why, because I said so' hung in the balance of the space between his answer and the silence. 

"It's not what she ordered me to do."

_She?_

"She who?" Chihiro asked, curious and more curious by the second. 

"Master," he answered evasively and that was all they had time for. 

THUD!

"Oof, get offa me!" Kesuke's voice was muffled coming from underneath the pile of cloth and body that had so conveniently heaped itself onto him. 

"Gladly," came a cool and assured voice and Kesuke did a double take. 

"So you made it..." he thought aloud, impressed obviously. 

"Chihiro are you okay? I'm sorry I got here so late...the portal that dropped me on Mr. Happy over there was kind of bugged," the cool voice explained sheepishly and Chihiro was bewildered in the most joyous way to find that that voice belonged to none other than Lin. 

"Lin!" Chihiro wanted to smack the watery drops forming in her eyes away, feeling foolish for showing them but ignored them instead and embraced the older woman in a fierce hug. She was so excited; she didn't even notice Lin's use of the word portal as her transportation, which under any other circumstances might have miffed her just a _tad_.

"Chihiro," Lin smiled down at the girl who was still shorter than her, but not by quite as much anymore of course. 

"I can't believe you found me," Chihiro commented and added, "How?"

"A white dragon told me," Lin smirked in a decidedly suggestive manner that Chihiro chose to ignore; she knew Lin would be teasing her mercilessly later anyway. Why start now? And besides, there was the small matter of...

"Who are you by the way?" Lin turned to face Kesuke who still wore a starkly bemused expression on his face. 

"A messenger boy," he replied cheekily and grasped Chihiro's arm, pulling her away from Lin forcefully. "And she's my package, so I'm afraid you can't have her."

Lin eyed him in a dangerous fashion any of the bath workers would have known was one to steer clear of...steer maybe in a five hundred yard radius clear of to be precise. 

"What kind of delivery boy are you? Slave dealer?" Lin hazarded a guess and Kesuke shook with mirth.

"Goodness no, I'd never deal with the likes of them. But brave of you to guess," Kesuke allowed. 

"Then an apprentice?" Lin ventured again.

"A sort I suppose," Kesuke pondered and shook his head slowly afterward, "but not exactly. I have no contract you see." 

Lin's eyes widened.

"Presumably not Yubaba then?" Lin stated but it came out as a question, a question Kesuke affirmed.

"Let go of me," Chihiro whispered to Kesuke, not certain why she was whispering. The only other person there was Lin...well, Lin wasn't precisely a person but anyway...

"But I can't Chihiro," he replied with a solemnity that Chihiro was surprised enough to see in him that she stopped struggling. 

"You can't?" she repeated unbelieving. 

"I _can't_," he nodded. 

"And why not?" Lin challenged, her eyes belying only part of the nervousness that resided within her. Who this man was, not letting go of Chihiro---or Sen as she was used to calling her---and what his purposes were befuddled the older woman. 

"It's a deal I'm under," Kesuke evaded the true answer discreetly. 

"Lin," Chihiro's voice brought the two out of their rather heated and terse conversation. 

"What Sen...I mean Chihiro?" Lin corrected herself. 

"Where's Haku?" Chihiro had been wondering why he hadn't come for her and begun to worry; her worries were semi-confirmed when she noted the cloudy look Lin's normally clairvoyant eyes got. 

"He's recuperating," Lin said and dropped it there. 

"From what?"

"The travel back. It was pretty nasty apparently, for him anyway," Lin was the one being evasive now and Chihiro felt for all the world that she was the only one asking questions and the only one not getting any real answers. 

"Let me go," she reiterated to Kesuke.

"I told you, I can't," he sighed. 

"Figure it out. I need to see Haku," Chihiro checked her temper, even as it began to creep up on her. 

"You can't. You have to come with me," Kesuke insisted and Lin snorted.

"Who says?" Lin confronted him and advanced towards him, Chihiro only now noticing her attire. It was not the bathhouse uniform; it was like...like hakama, she decided as she noted the pleated white pants and green haori. But before Lin could reach the two inseparable people, there was an unnatural gust of black wind that seemed to roll in with the also unnaturally purplish clouds now coming above. 

"I say so," a deep, sinister and female voice icily replied. It looked like a woman but it couldn't have been. No, it looked more like one of the dark elves in myths Chihiro read as a child, lithe body, structurally well defined features and long pointed ears. Long black hair swirled in the same threatening manner the woman spoke to them, purple eyes flashing like the lightning Chihiro felt suddenly certain she could call up. 

"Nori," Kesuke registered the newcomer's name shortly. 

"Nice to see you too Kesuke," the she-demon replied in the same cold manner, a twinge of a smile painting itself over her blood-red lips. Chihiro felt like she was in the presence of the epitome of the cliché "beautiful danger." 

"Go, take her. I'll handle the witch," Nori little more than commanded him and he nodded, however reluctantly as Chihiro was fast to note. _Wait a minute_...witch? Chihiro looked to Lin, shocked to see a strange and yet familiar aura forming itself around her friend. She could swear it had a tinge of green a different shade than her haori and that...was that energy crackling between Lin's long tapered fingers? 

"Witch?" Chihiro all but croaked and Lin smiled ruefully 

She yelled in typical Lin-fashion, even as Chihiro was being taken away into yet another portal of sorts, hand grasped firmly by Kesuke: "You've missed a lot! Don't worry Sen...I mean, Chihiro! We're going to get you back. Kesuke, if that girl comes back with as much as a scratch, you're in _big_ trouble mister!" And Chihiro felt a twisted need to smile dryly. That was what she had said to No-face on her first visit...it seems Lin used those words on purpose, to make her less nervous. It helped. 

"Thank you Lin," she smiled faintly as she was pulled nearly all the way into the portal and glimpsed Lin dodging that vile elf/she-demon's blasts of what could only be called lightning...and throwing her own magic right back at her. It was a crackling kind of energy that seemed to glow with a luminous shadowing of different shades of green. 

And Chihiro only thought as she lost sight of them completely, once more being taken in through and to a place she wasn't sure where of: _I didn't know Lin could do magic. _

Kesuke noted the bemused and startled expression that Chihiro wore and shook his head, not for the first and not for the last time. This girl had apparently missed a lot in six years. 

She probably didn't even know about the Queen. 

Oh well, she'd know soon enough; he gripped her wrist tighter; it had been the truth. He couldn't let her go. He'd cast a spell to make them inseparable, just so he wouldn't lose her. He found himself thinking if the dragon-boy had any sense, he'd have beaten him to it. Shoving thoughts like that out of his mind though, Kesuke silences his thinking and listened to the easy whir of the traveling portals as he and Chihiro waited for the right one to open and take them...well, wherever it was they were going.

Chihiro for her part didn't have a clue and was getting pretty sick of it, but held her tongue. 

Kesuke knew most of it, since he was the one orchestrating most of this...task. But even to him some things were up in the air still. 

Rather far away, Haku moaned. The river god and spirit rolled over, ignoring the rather sharp pain in his temples. He'd gotten back in time to tell Lin before passing out. Lucky he could count on her now. Sighing, he stood and stretched, feeling ten years older than he really was. Chihiro would either be safe with Lin or...still with that other being that Haku could not repress his slight revulsion for. Kesuke. That was him. What could he want with Chihiro though? That was what plagued Haku all through his sleep, making his recuperation longer than he expected, restless as he was. 

Chihiro. 

Sen.

Love.

And she'd slipped through his fingers like water once again, this time not of her own volition though and he would cheerfully kill himself if he ever let it happen again.

_It won't happen again, _he assured himself as he exited his room and strode purposefully down the echoing corridors. This was not the bathhouse. No, this was the underground operation headquarters of the impending mission he had been given leave of just to be with Chihiro. Instead of avoiding it, living the life he dreamed of for years with her, he ended up somehow dragging her back into it with him and he cursed himself for it. How? He muttered something not altogether polite about fate and bad timing and continued to walk through the corridors. He needed to get Chihiro back if she wasn't there already and something told him she wasn't.

When he turned into a wing of the main meeting room, greeted by the sight of a rather dirty and weather-beaten looking Lin, who nevertheless managed a weak smile at him, he had his answer and turned away rapidly. 

She wasn't there. Something had happened.

_Again_, an annoying voice chimed in inside his head and he told it to _shut up_ and following that, realized that he must be going mad if he was arguing with himself mentally.

Mentally.

Yeah that seemed to sum it up. 

Tearing down another wing and another set of corridors, he came to a room full of full-length mirrors, all with different gilding and framing. He stepped close to a particularly ornate golden one and touched its placid surface.

"Dissolve," he spoke firmly yet softly and the mirror's reflective face became watery, a murky kind of blue. Plastering a rather forced smile on his face, Haku took a breath and stepped _into_ the mirror. 

Seconds later the face of the mirror was flat and utterly mirror-like, giving no indication if its true use and power.

_I'm coming Chihiro_, he promised fervently and Haku's thoughts were rather one-track after that, all of the girl who lost her show in his river all those years, the girl who overrode the obstacles in a strange world only six years ago, and the girl who had come back into his life just recently only to be taken away again, caught in the middle of something he had no doubt, she understood very little or nothing of.

Chihiro...Sen...Best friend in many ways, and pillar of strength she didn't know she was. 

Haku ran his fingers impatiently through his hair absently as he waited for the river of magic to carry him to his destination:

The Palace Merquise. 

Undoubtedly where she was being held.

_Not for long though_, he added and resigned himself to the wait that seemed like forever and was in reality, a mere patch of minutes on time's great patchwork quilt.

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Review please, you know the drill. ^_~ I know, more Haku and Chihiro togetherness is desired but bear with me. They will be together...just bear with the plot [which I hope isn't abysmal...]

Erm, what I mean is, I hope you like the story okay. ~_~

Again, thanks to all people who are reviewing, I REALLY appreciate it. ^_^_^^_^_^^_^ See how much I'm smiling? 

-Kaji


	6. Never Again

**Ordinary World: Chapter Six: Never Again**

Kesuke's manner was somewhat smug as he watched the stunned Chihiro take in her surroundings as they entered the Palace Merquise, home and headquarters of her Majesty, the Queen. He muttered a few words and released her wrist, not that she noticed. The spell was dissolvable once inside the palace. Idly almost, he observed her movements, her actions, all belying the childlike fascination she undoubtedly had in this grandiose personification of royalty. 

"It's amazing," she breathed and he merely nodded. Of course it was. It was the Queen's palace after all. How could it be anything but?

"I'm glad you like it Pretty, but come along now. You can't meet the Queen in that," he gestured at her school uniform and she shrugged nonchalantly before the impact of what he'd said hit her.

"First, I told you. I'm Chihiro...Chi-hi-ro! Not 'Pretty'. And if you think you're going to get me into one of those weird cupcake dresses you've got another thing coming," her voice was slightly edgy. After being thrown from place to place and into circumstances she hadn't asked for repeatedly, she was on the edge of her patience. 

"Right, right. _Chihiro_," he pronounced it overly, exaggerating it and then continued, "You'll not be wearing any cupcakes either. We don't have those here," he shook his head and then took her hand in his once again, pulling her reluctant form behind him. 

----------

Haku padded in a stealthy silence through the palace's corridors, the lush red carpeting giving him added assistance in keeping quiet as he moved. He moved at a speed that caused the castle curtains to rustle slightly or a maid's apron to go a bit awry but simultaneously allowed him to move nearly invisibly. 

Ah, the perks of being a river god.

Whose river happens to be filled in with apartments...

Right. Well, that didn't matter. What mattered was that he find Chihiro and being her back. 

     There was sudden noise and approaching movement and Haku stilled himself, darting behind some thick draperies as a small group of palace guards sauntered through the hall. They weren't old; in fact they were no older than him, maybe only by a couple of years, young men in black armor. 

     "Did you see Master Kesuke? I heard he returned from his mission," one of them remarked, casting a glance in Haku's direction without knowing the river god was actually there.

     "Nah but I heard he brought someone back with him," one of the others jeered and there was a hearty and empty bout of raucous laughter at that. 

     "I saw her; Master Kesuke dragged her to the Queen. Tcha, I bet she doesn't last a minute in her Majesty's presence," another commented as the group moved on, their backs to the silently frowning river god. He slipped out from behind the curtains and sped once more through the corridors, wishing he knew this palace better and its layout, knowing it could take him too long to just find out where he was inside of it. 

------------

"I'm not coming out!"

"You have to Chihiro," Kesuke massaged his temples ruefully. This had been going on for some time now. The girl absolutely refused to wear any of the given attire...

"You can't make me!"

"Don't make _me_, make _you_," he challenged and there was a silence that ensued. There was the shuffling of feet...the rustle of skirts...a moan of resignation and irritation...

"Why can't I just wear something like you're wearing?" her voice was almost pleading now and Kesuke took the moment to examine his own attire. It was strangely similar to the dragon-boy's ensemble, but instead of white there was black and where Haku's was blue, Kesuke's was a deep red. Black and red...the symbolic colors of Her Majesty. 

"You're a _girl_," he emphasized the word 'girl' as though it were an amusement to him and simultaneously a curse for her, which Chihiro wasted no time in concluding that it was. 

"So?" she played the stubborn mule role very well.

"So, you have to wear whatever you're wearing because you're already making us late," he exclaimed in final exasperation and raised his palm in the direction of the door. There was a click as his magic unlocked the latch and a creak as he pushed it open with a motion of his hand, the invisible threads of sorcery pulling at it willingly. 

"This is some kind of injustice," Chihiro muttered and ushered herself out of the room before he could pull any of the magic on her...she was sick of being pulled and pushed around by other people's wills. Not altogether pleased with her forced surrender, she stood defiantly in front of Kesuke, hands on hips, a muted glare pasted onto her otherwise lovely face. Kesuke for his part, merely nodded his approval. 

"That's good. It suits you," he appraised and Chihiro could only barely hold herself from sputtering a protest. If this was her, then Yubaba was beautiful. No offense to the old witch of course.

Regardless of her thoughts though, Kesuke was in the right. She looked every inch the presentable lady he wanted to introduce to the Queen. A black sleeveless dress made of a watery, silky material clung to her torso in taste and flared out slightly from the waist down, trails of rose red embroidery adorning the edges of the gown in spiraling delicate designs of curving lines. A red garnet earring was in each of her ears and a black ribbon was around her neck, a small garnet pendant dropping down from it slightly to rest in the hollow of her throat. The creaminess of her skin was enhanced to an illustrious pale that was almost...unreal. 

Chihiro wanted to gag.

She had never, ever had to wear anything of the sort...and never had she intended to. So she was still frowning, tapping her feet with impatience and annoyance all at once in the god forsaken black heels that came with the darn dress, when Kesuke shook his head and cleared his throat. He had been staring apparently. Not that Chihiro had noticed. All she noticed was him making her wait after he said they were in a hurry when she could have definitely put that time to good use by changing into something more conventional. Ah, ignorance is bliss.

Blinking, Kesuke motioned for her to follow him and they made their way through the halls.

"So who is this Queen anyway? What does she want?" Chihiro pried at him in her forward manner.

"You will address her simply as 'Your Majesty' or 'Your Highness' or 'Your Worship'...anything imperial. Her name is unimportant," he brushed it off and Chihiro was quick enough to notice so.

"So if it's not important, why not tell me?" Chihiro switched tactics. 

"Because you don't need to know her name to do what she wants you to do," Kesuke was being evasive and he knew it but he couldn't help it if the Queen was somewhat of a prick when it came to these things.

"And what does she want me to do?" Chihiro persisted and Kesuke sighed, turning to stare at her. In all his years of magic and practice, he'd never met anyone like this Chihiro, always asking questions, stubborn to a fault and definitely not your typical fair maiden. He was used to the women who either bossed him around and enforced the law, like the Queen, or ones that shriveled under him at the merest smile or wave of his hand. 

Ogino Chihiro was something completely different apparently.

Oh well. 

He was always up for a challenge.

"She wants you to do something important," he smiled infuriatingly at her and before Chihiro could further protest, he was pushing her in through two particularly grandiose doors, down a thick crimson and gold-lined carpet, to the dais of a golden throne. 

The Queen was startlingly beautiful with golden blonde hair and seemingly silver eyes that glinted with something akin to magic mixed with a fear-induced haze. Tall [though not taller than Kesuke or Haku] and slender with a gorgeous figure Chihiro was certain boys at her school would worship as goddess-like, the Queen held herself with a posture that suggested both power and something slightly more underhanded.

If Chihiro was surprised when she spoke, eyes directly meeting the Queen's, Kesuke was something between stricken and appalled, admiring and stunned:

"Please don't use magic on me Queen. I'm tired of it," Chihiro said bluntly and was thankful her legs didn't go traitor on her and become jelly like she was so certain they would do under any other circumstances. 

"How amusing a girl you have brought me my dear," the Queen drawled with an inflection that suggested she was amused. Her eyes darted for a moment languidly from Chihiro who shifted uncomfortably in the gown to Kesuke who had his eyes respectfully averted. "My dear, why do you hide your beautiful eyes from me?" Chihiro blinked in surprise at the sudden slightly hurt tone the Queen's voice took on, and somehow she just knew it was genuine.

"Forgive me my Queen," Kesuke's voice took on a more solemn quality that the third occupant of the room suspected was the reason he sounded slightly older...slightly different from the boy who took her to this place at all.

"Come, stand on my right while we examine her. She's rather different from the image I saw," the Queen mused, obviously puzzled.

"That was an image from six years ago my Queen," Kesuke clarified and the Queen made an understanding sound.

"Grew up nicely. She should do very well as our figurehead. The men will flock and the women will admire her. Maybe even some of the rebels will come to her, spare us some trivial fighting," the Queen pondered aloud, Chihiro all the while not being quite comfortable under her gaze.

"My Queen...are you certain...I mean, she is only a child," Kesuke ventured and the Queen's lazy gaze became sharper and somewhat...unnerving. Chihiro shivered.

"I am positive. Do you directly question your match?" she challenged and Kesuke smiled disarmingly. 

"No, of course not my heart, I just thought I'd re-instate what you were doing," he replied in a tone that could be nothing but tender. The Queen's sudden anger and displeasure evaporated as quickly as it had come and she turned her eyes back to Chihiro who was trying to process all she had heard.

"Girl...what is her name?" the Queen asked Kesuke and Chihiro didn't wait for him to answer. She was sick of a lot of things, true, and being ignored when she was fully present was one of them.

"My name is Chihiro!" she said calmly, with more composure than she really felt.

"Chihiro, what a nice name. Don't fear child, I won't take it from you. Yubaba is an old crone with more tricks than true magic," the Queen smiled, baring teeth that were so pearly white Chihiro averted her eyes. The Queen was somewhat inhuman, or so Chihiro thought.

"I am not afraid," Chihiro said, contradictory to the rolling waves in her heart and tempest in her mind that clearly said otherwise.

"Brave...and foolish. Well, you can't help but do as I say, so you might as well get comfortable here. Love, take her to her rooms and show her around. I have things to attend to," the Queen said, turning to Kesuke and to Chihiro's further surprise, kissed him...not a mere peck either. It was straight on the lips...lips the Queen was rather familiar with it would seem. Chihiro averted her own eyes to the floor; suddenly she found the thick red carpet very interesting...

_So they're together huh?_ Chihiro mused idly. _That's...just weird_, she decided and was stolen out of her thoughts by a tap on the shoulder.

"Let's go," Kesuke more ordered than anything and they made their way to the two grand doors, Kesuke shutting them as they exited, close behind them with a faint echoing thud.

The Queen's silver eyes glimmered.

"Everything is falling into place, isn't it my dear?" she asked the empty room absently, addressing the no longer present Kesuke. It had been some time since she had found the handsome young man, a perfect being in most rights, perfect for her that is. She had won him over by any means possible, these ones being a mite foul and it didn't really bother her. As long as he was there with her, as long as he was hers, she didn't care. She loved him in a twisted way, and he did her bidding without much hesitation or question, so she had convinced herself he felt the same. He certainly didn't vacillate in the shows of affection, the Queen reasoned, her lips curving upward slightly at the thought. 

And suddenly, the Queen's eyes flashed.

"We have an unexpected visitor," she realized and smiled, a feral quality to that smile now. 

"I should welcome him," she decided and waited as said visitor came closer and closer to her, unknowingly. She shielded her power so she was virtually unreadable to most, including the person heading towards her. But she knew he was coming. So it was no surprise when a certain stoic river god sped into the throne room, unheeding the Queen's presence. 

"Hello little river god," she spat more than greeted and Haku froze in his haste, turning to stare slowly at the woman on the throne. 

"...Where is she?" he asked coldly. The Queen made a hurt expression, pure mockery but hurt nonetheless. 

"What, no gifts, no smile?" She evaded his question blatantly.

"Tell me where she is," Haku demanded and restrained himself from what he knew would only be a foolish attack. This was her turf. He had nearly no standing ground.  

Nearly.

"Who, Pretty?" the Queen asked, playing the dumb one Haku knew she wasn't.

"Chihiro," he supplied.

"Right, Pretty, appropriate don't you think? She's a lovely girl, perfect for my plans," the Queen acted as though it were a perfectly normal conversation between old friends. 

"No. She's not apart of anyone's plans, least of all yours!" He was losing patience. He didn't even know if Chihiro was safe, or well...it was killing him and making him lose some of his otherwise more prudent judgment.

"You don't mean to tell me with a straight face that you didn't consider using her for your little rebel cause do you? I can see right through you Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi."

The Queen's words bit through him and he bit his tongue from lying like he wanted to. Truth was, he had thought of it; Chihiro would have been the ideal person to bring others to their dying cause, but...he hadn't really intended to push that upon her. Maybe he had hoped she would offer of her own volition after seeing their situation, think of it on her own, but he would not make her. That's what he told himself.

"You don't respond, retaliate or tell me that I am incorrect," the Queen jeered. "Well, you have no choice, Kohaku. She is mine."

Mine. Not yours. Mine.

"No!" he little more than growled. 

"Oh yes," the Queen raised her hand and without so much as a breath sent a wave of paralysis at the river god. 

Haku had no time. He could not stop this witch's power at this proximity with so little notice. The wave hit and as expected, he could not move. There were chances of things like this happening on all of his missions. It had to be on the one that mattered most to him that they would happen of course. If he could have scowled, he would have. As it was, he could barely think straight. Damn the Queen, he grumbled mentally. He struggled, no matter the futility, to release himself from the tricky spell...

----------------

"So you're her lover?" Chihiro was never one to beat around the bush.

"Eh-eh...huh?" Kesuke stuttered and wondered briefly when he had _ever_ taken up stuttering.

"You _kissed_ her, and she called you 'love' and you called her 'my heart', what else could you be?" Chihiro prompted, puzzled. She refrained from mentioning the level of intimacy the kiss had, and that it should have been reserved for an older audience than herself. Of course, Chihiro was a bit biased. She had never kissed anyone and never seen it really happen like that in real life. She felt that was of little consequence though. 

"Well, she took me as a lover," he tried to avoid answering a question he wasn't altogether sure he knew the real answer to. 

"But..." Chihiro began but suddenly a voice emanated...in her mind it seemed.

Kesuke, love, bring Pretty and come back to the throne room. I need to show her something. 

Chihiro knew it was the Queen...talking to them...somehow inside their heads. And she wouldn't be lying if she said she absolutely hated it. _Stupid woman get out of my head!_ Chihiro frowned. 

"Yes my Queen," Kesuke answered aloud and was relieved he wouldn't have to answer Chihiro's question, at least not for now. He took her hand not for the first or last time and dragged an oddly silent Chihiro once more towards the throne room, wondering what it was the Queen could want again in so short a time span. 

-----------------

"They're coming," she told him, amused. Haku had only untangled enough of the spell to allow him to move his face; this meant talking, and many facial expressions, which for the moment seemed locked down around a scowl, frown, or out-right glare. 

"Release me witch," he demanded and added, "I'll get out of it sooner or later." To which, he was irked to see her smile condescendingly at. 

"I think not little river god. That's a special spell, just for you. You've gotten the face done but anything else will only loop back to tie you up again. And you don't know the other special enhancement yet. You will soon though, no worries," she said and waved her hand in the direction of the doors. "Ah, they arrive." The doors swung open. 

Haku knew it wasn't the time to gape but Kesuke couldn't really blame him. He---that is, Haku---had never seen Chihiro wear anything of the sort of gown she now wore...regardless of how reluctantly. 

"Haku!" Chihiro was somewhere between disbelief, anger, fright and relief as she ran to him, suspended in the air as he was, he seemed to be strung on some invisible web of tangles...

"Chihiro," he smiled softly at her. She couldn't be anymore beautiful...Stop that...it's not the time you idiot, he thought, berating himself. 

"What's she done to you?" Chihiro took a moment to shoot an icy glare at the Queen, one that rivaled her Majesty's own best and Kesuke just repressed a smile at her unbridled spunk and blind bold attitude. 

"A simple paralysis spell; I'll be out soon and then we'll fly," Haku said, more reassuring than he felt he should be. Chihiro was about to speak when the Queen's slight and soon fully audible laughter rang through the room a dangerous lilt to it. 

"'Simple'? Oh no. Well, we'll have to fix that misconception. How's this for simple little river god?" the Queen asked and made a twisting motion with her right hand. 

Pain...all he knew was pain. He couldn't move; obviously that was the point but it was more than that. He couldn't make a sound. It felt like every part of him was being twisted into constricted messes of irrevocable knots, and then pulling and breaking...it was like he was dying. It lasted for what seemed like forever and was really only a minute or so, and then he knew he was losing consciousness and he knew even as he me the blackness that being unconscious would offer no respite from the pain...it would only get worse.  

On the outside, all Chihiro saw was a suddenly limp and pale Haku...not moving at all. 

"Haku? Haku! Haku!" She repeated his name as though it could bring him out of whatever he had been thrown into, as though she could help him...when she knew full-well she had no such capabilities. She was a mere mortal, no magician or sorceress, no fighter, only...only a girl with a fiery temper and a knack for getting into trouble. She didn't let the tears surface though. There was no way she would ever give that awful...woman...the satisfaction. Instead, she shook Haku's form, reaching up to his prostate body, taking hold of his shoulders and calling him...again and again...to no avail. 

"He can't hear you Pretty," the Queen told her the obvious that she wanted to ignore. 

"Don't talk to me," Chihiro spat and turned her attention back to Haku fully. Kesuke did not watch. He couldn't. This was not under any circumstances what he would have done; of course, he felt more compassion for the girl than the Queen. To see Chihiro futilely trying to wake the river god was...disheartening. 

"But I can save him," the Queen barely spoke above a whisper but Chihiro was blessed with good hearing. 

"How?" Chihiro asked.

"Just say you'll stay here, you won't run, and when I wake him, make him promise not to come for you, and no one else, no one Pretty. One misstep and he," the Queen pointed at Haku, "He dies. And he won't be the last, I promise you."

Chihiro tried to remember to breathe.

Breathe Chihiro. Think. 

This meant she might never see him again...the boy...the man...the dragon...the friend she cherished and had only just been reunited with...never...

And yet he would live.

And that was all she needed.

"Fine," her voice was a great deal steadier than she would have given herself credit for pulling off and she found herself thanking a blank emptiness that it didn't break like she had feared. 

"Done," the Queen waved and Haku's eyes shot open, wide and pained, but somehow relieved...the pain had stopped. His blurry vision focused on Chihiro, who stood there looking at him for all the world like hope had just flown out the window. 

For her, it had. 

"Haku, will you do something for me?" she asked, trembling even as she said the words. He nodded dumbly. The pain was still making him ache insanely and his mind was fuzzy...this the Queen knew and counted on. The only one who noticed the slight movement of her fingers on her left hand was Kesuke who still, couldn't bring his eyes to watch the given scene.

"Yes Chihiro," he heard himself say...wait...that wasn't what he wanted to say...his eyes darted sideways to a sickeningly smug looking Queen. She was controlling him...

"Stay away," Chihiro managed to whisper.

"What?" he exclaimed, completely of his own will. What did she mean? She was surely brainwashed or...or worse. What was she saying? Haku wanted to shake her, make her take it back, make her say she didn't mean it...

"Go, you have to go. And stay that way. Gone. From here," Chihiro's voice became slightly firmer. 

"But...Chihiro..." he began, ignoring the lancing pain that was cutting through the area near his heart, something a great deal worse than the physical pain of before...

"I never want to see you again," she resolved and stared at him directly in the eyes. Haku was stunned. Could this be real? What was happening? And suddenly he again lost control over his words and he knew it was the Queen speaking through him:

"Then you never will," his voice said but his mind screamed otherwise while simultaneously cursing the Queen to some place worse than the seventh Hell. The worst part was that his voice was cold, unfeeling and he could tell, no matter how Chihiro tried to hide it, that it hurt her...it hurt her more than she would ever admit. And yet, _she_ was the one who was telling _him_ to go, was she not? Why would she be hurting?

"Glad you're done," the Queen muttered and made a grand gesture with her hands. Haku was released and he floated to the ground and stood for a moment in front of a inwardly struggling Chihiro, looking beautiful regardless of her discouraged and lost state of being. He began to fade, presumably back to where he came from, one of the Queen's other spells, one of many. He didn't try to stop it. 

You never want to see me again? He wondered with more sadness than he thought he could ever muster and pondered again why it was Chihiro looked sad when he was doing what she apparently wanted...when he noticed how glassy her eyes were. They were watering even...and he was startled when she reached out to him half-heartedly with her right hand. 

"I never want to see you again, if that's the only way I can keep you safe," and finally her voice broke, waves of the bitterness she felt sweeping over him as he involuntarily faded as he too reached out his hand to touch her cheek.

He disappeared completely from the throne room.

He reappeared on a grassy hill not far from his rebel head quarters. And all he had in his hand was the remains of a few salty, wet tears. 

He disappeared...this time into himself as he let his legs give out and collapsed on the hill...drained of emotion...of physical well-being...and something far more important...

Rather, someone. 

It began to rain and he just didn't care anymore.

----------------- 

"Chihiro!" Kesuke called after her as she turned and stormed out of the throne room, doors slamming behind her as she tried in vain to hide the tears she had so successfully kept under tabs until that last breaking moment. 

She just couldn't help it if she loved the one she couldn't be with.

She just couldn't help it if the only way for him to be safe was away from her.

She just couldn't help it if it all didn't matter and she knew she'd still love him, even being apart.

She just couldn't help most things it seemed.

As her running figure made it to one of the many intersecting hallways, she paused and took off blindly down one of them, not caring where it went or how long it was. So engrossed in her tornado of emotions and inward battles, she didn't look where she was going and was very startled to run into something firm but not hard...not a wall...kind of warm. 

Sniffing, she angrily wiped her fingers across her face, as though she could tear the wetness in her eyes away and looked up at the thing she had run into. She glared fiercely, eyes still bright with more unshed tears as she recognized the person.

"You're all bastards," she sobbed, and pushed past him, not noting the pained expression on his face as she did so and he watched her continue to run, run to a place she couldn't stay and would soon have to return from. He knew. She knew. He cared. She didn't. 

And Kesuke was unnerved to find he wasn't sure exactly why he cared...why he should care...and further disturbed to find himself following dumbly after the crying girl he had brought here under strict orders and inadvertently perhaps, ruined the life of. 

--------------------

The Queen only smiled as the rain fell outside. 

That was the longest chapter yet. Kinda...sad but it's necessary. And it is for the plot, which I hope you at least kinda like...^^;

So um...Did you like it? I hope so. Review please if you want more. ^_~

Thank you to all who have reviewed and still are reviewing. They mean so much to me! ^_^ See how much? I'm smiling!!!!! [A lot!]

-Kaji


	7. Androgynous Moonlight

Author's note: For the plot's sake, I can't tell you much, but thank you for all the reviews and keep them coming. They motivate me to write faster the more I see them.^^; As for what coupling we're dealing with here, mainly it focuses, as the summary states, on the trials of Chihiro and Haku's not-so-ordinary relationship and the not-so-ordinary obstacles that might come between them at lengths of time. And I'm sorry if you do not like Kesuke, I've gotten both kinds of replies about him from 'I kinda like him' to 'Kesuke must die'...Ehe...gomen? Hope you like my story though, even if you don't like Kesuke. As for the Queen, well you sure as heck better _not_ like her, or else something's wrong! -_- 

Hope that answers some questions. ^_~

Ordinary World: Chapter Seven: Androgynous Moonlight 

     Lin massaged her temples ruefully, trying to get the ringing of Haku's voice out of her ears. Ever since he had returned yesterday without Chihiro, or Sen as Lin called her in her own mind, he had been every inch the role of commander.

     He _was_ their commander after all.

But it wasn't his usual stoic but kind and forgiving manner. He was directly and overly oriented around different ways to bring people to the rebel cause, believing this the best way to usurp her Majesty and bring Chihiro home again. She had heard him mumbling Chihiro's name to himself while vigorously working on some new idea or invention that was to help their cause. 

     All Lin hoped was that, wherever Chihiro was being held, she was at the very least, unharmed. It was all Lin could do. For now, she tried to discreetly comfort Haku, reassuring him that yes, they would overcome, and yes, they would get Sen back, no matter what.

     No matter what.

     Until then, they could only plan. And while Lin was certain Haku had more on his mind than he let on, she never pressed the matter. It was his business what he did in order to accomplish his goals and she could not..._would_ _not_ stop him. He deserved the freedom of his actions that anyone did, freedom he had only experienced once Chihiro/ Sen helped him find his name all those years ago and had been, since, coming into slowly. 

     All because of her, Lin mused.

     _Sen, you are in all of our prayers_, she thought fervently and pulled herself back to reality where the wounded needed caring for before the next rebellion, and upcoming uprisings needed to be discussed.

     -----------------------------------------

     There were only so many tears she could shed but whenever she thought she was at the well's bottom, more came streaming forth. And she hated herself for them...hated that weakness that she was tempted to blame on being human. Glaring at the wall across from her, she took a deep breath...in and out. Haku had gone. He was safe. That was all that mattered...

     _He's safe. It's okay. Everything is okay._

     She lied to herself to make it easier to bear. But somehow, the lies weren't helping anymore than they had the day before. Previously, Kesuke had followed her in a less than dignified state and she supposed, tried to...odd as it sounded...cheer her up. This confused her. Why would he care? Why should he? He was a mere object of the Queen's in Chihiro's eyes, under that awful woman's control. 

     _You're all bastards..._

     Her own words echoed in her ears and while she didn't regret saying it, she was slightly regretful for whom she had said them to. Kesuke had, for his part, not really done anything directly. He was under orders. It was the Queen she _should_ rant and rave and spit at. It was the Queen she _wanted_ to rant and rave and spit at. But it was Kesuke who had happened to be in her way. So, he got the brunt of her whirling emotions. Chihiro made a mental note to apologize later. Whatever the case, he had been strangely kind to her and he deserved at least that much, if nothing more, she reasoned strongly and rolled over on her side. 

     The plush blanketing was comfortable, overly luxurious even. For Chihiro couldn't have cared if it were a straw pallet she slept on, not in her current state. The walls were of a rich crimson and the curtains a velvety black, everything gilded in pure gold, jewels embedded in certain moldings. They could have been stone, old, damp and dank, overgrown in moss, a veritable dungeon and she would not have made the differentiation. She was somehow, beyond all the material and not quite to the level of uncertainty she was aiming for. Her mind was drifting and her eyelids began to get heavy the more she drifted...

     Tap. Tap.

     She sat up abruptly, startled. Where was it coming from? 

     Tap. Tap.

     Eyes scanning the immediate area, she narrowed the area down to the outer balcony that came as a package deal with her room, a deal Chihiro would later redundantly state was little more than a blind man's compensation. Groaning, not wanting to deal with whomever it was The Royal-Pain-in-the-Arse-_M-a-j-e-s-t-y_ sent to bother her, Chihiro eased off of the comfy bed. Still, if she didn't answer, then surely they'd come busting in with torches and the like, or that seemed the way things were done here anyway. And Chihiro would just rather not have to deal with pyros from another world at the moment. So thinking, she made her way to the double French doors and opened them, peering apprehensively out. 

     The sky was dark, littered with stars as it seemed was usually the case in this world, and a soft chill breeze swept across over and over. 

     Tap. Tap.

     There it was again! Her eyes, sharper than they had been, examined the darkness, scrutinizing it in every way she could manage until a hiss of a whisper met her ears. 

     "Pretty! Down here. Come to the edge," a familiar voice called her and she found herself edging towards said edge of the balcony half-heartedly. Sure enough, the man of the hour, Kesuke stood there below it, looking somewhat androgynous in the moonlight. That was another thing Chihiro had noticed. Kesuke was attractive, but not in a typical way..._he_ was _pretty_, not handsome, but _pretty_...Chihiro recalled the word Bishounen, and smiled slightly. Kind of like Haku...

     Haku...

     Her mind drifted for only a moment before Kesuke called to her again.

     "Pretty, come down," he said.

     "Why should I?" she replied. And he sighed. Of course she was still upset. His master, or rather, mistress, had taken away her best friend...and he was an accomplice of sorts. 

     "Look Pretty, I just wanna show you a place in the gardens I thought you'd like, alright? Geez...try and do something nice," he muttered the last part, trailing off slightly. Chihiro once again found herself feeling slightly guilty. Kesuke was not really the one to be angry at. It was the Queen, always the Queen. She decided to make it a point to distinguish clearly between the two, and subtly perhaps, shove it in the Queen's face exactly who she was feeling irate with. 

     Yes that would work nicely, Chihiro mused. 

     "Sorry...but I can't climb down off this balcony with this...thing on," Chihiro gestured at the gown and stuck out her tongue in distaste, a habit she'd never quite grown out of as a child. 

     "Ah, well that makes sense. I thought of that though. Here!" he tossed up some rolled up bundles and they landed in front of her. Picking them up, she also unraveled them to find a red tunic, black hakama and a pair of black boots. Without a word, she disappeared inside her rooms again to the given clothing on for size. To her slight disgruntlement, they fit very well and she had no reason to ask how it was that Kesuke had such a good eye for clothing size. 

     "And there's another thing," Chihiro pointed out as she strolled much easier onto the balcony, loving the feel of the hakama on her legs in contrast with the stiff brush of the previously uncomfortable long skirt. She heard him sigh in a rather melodramatic fashion and quirked an eyebrow.

     "What is it this time?" he nearly sulked and her quizzical look turned to one more amused.

     "You can't expect me to jump down there. This balcony is at least twenty feet up. I'm surprised I can hear you," she added the last part wonderingly. 

     "True, but you don't need to jump. Just fly," he supplied and Chihiro snorted.

     "Excuse me?" _He must be mad_, Chihiro thought somewhat idly.  

     "You heard me Pretty, fly. You did it before when you came into this world right?" he articulated his meaning and she stifled a sound of indignation. That he knew her entire past here it seemed, disturbed her slightly. Nevertheless, she was compelled to respond.

     "Yes, yes I did. But I had Haku's help. He did the flying. I just held on tight," Chihiro smiled faintly, if sadly and Kesuke was immediately sorry he had made her mention such a contemporarily difficult subject matter for her. 

     "Well, news to you Pretty, you can fly all on your own. Her Majesty would not have selected you otherwise, from another world or not!" he grinned at her shocked expression.

     "Oh really? Well what else can I do then if she thinks I'm so great?" Chihiro felt like she was blind and being led by a stranger she didn't completely trust. 

     "Lots of things Pretty, but none that pertain to the situation at hand, I assure you. Now, come down to me Pretty," he laughed lightly at her, but it was not an unkind laugh. _Strange_, Chihiro mused and took a few steps closer to the edge of the balcony until she could fully lean out over it. 

     "If I die, when my spirit comes back I'll haunt you forever, and that's a more substantial threat here than most," Chihiro warned somewhat dryly and took a deep breath...and jumped. If she was the Chihiro from six years ago, her eyes would have been scrunched tight and so would she, in a fetal position be floating in the air. But the Chihiro of now, this one kept her eyes firmly open, and embraced the rush of magical air that surrounded her as her feet left solid footing. She gaped disbelievingly. She _could_ fly.

     "What'd I tell you Pretty? Now come _down_, so we can go. Mistress doesn't know about this little excursion. I highly doubt she'd approve of it either," he added ruefully and rubbed his head absently. She did so, if only because mainly she was still caught in the feeling; it was like a silvery aura of magic encased her and enabled her to float or fly with as much ease as her own two feet enabled her to walk. 

     "So, lead the way," Chihiro prompted him and he did. Deceptively, the gardens were incredibly gorgeous, with lush foliage and flora piling upon itself everywhere, mixtures of heavenly scents swirling in constant motion in the vicinity. No one would ever suspect immediately that it was owned by a Queen with a black heart, Chihiro scorned the ignorant mentally, if only because she wished she was one of them. 

     "Slow down Pretty. You'll get ahead of me, get lost, and then what?" he chuckled and Chihiro did not reply but did slow her pace. She cast a sideway glance at him. He didn't even look evil; rather, he looked too soft and nice of a person to be truly dark. So, she wondered at his current predicament, and how much of it was of his own will. 

     "Have you always worked for her?" Chihiro questioned blithely and was observant enough to notice Kesuke flinch, no matter how slight.

     "No," was his answer and she let him leave it at that since he seemed to prefer it. 

     "Are we almost there?" she felt like a child, imprisoned by them, so she thought, why not act like it?

     "Yes...stop here," he ordered and she did. He stepped a few feet ahead, just enough to disappear momentarily into the forward darkness where Chihiro could not see him any more. Her discomfort level rose slightly; he might not be her enemy but he wasn't really her friend either. 

     "Kesuke?" she called and bit down a gasp as he reappeared out of the darkness, slipping in and out of it like the penetrating moonbeams. 

     "Okay, this way Pretty. I really think you'll like this," he smiled and held out his hand to her. She stared dumbly at it for a moment, and when her blankness turned to distrust and suspicion, he sighed. "Just trust me for a while, okay? I'm not going to do anything to you or your pal, even if he does come back for you," Kesuke reassured her. 

     "Fine," she consented but did not take his hand. Frowning slightly, Kesuke let it be and motioned for her to follow him and as she did, for a moment she was pitched into that blackness he had just disappeared into. She paused, uncertain.

     "You see, or rather, don't see why I offered you my hand Pretty?" he chuckled lightly and Chihiro bristled at his teasing. Before she could respond though, somehow, something soft and warm...his hand...found hers in the darkness and lightly clasped it. "Alright Pretty?" he checked and when she didn't let go, he moved onward, Chihiro in tow. 

     As they resurfaced from the momentary sea of black, Chihiro almost shielded her eyes from the abrupt contrast as she took in her surroundings. Silver, white, moonlight and water...transparent beauty was all around her.

 It was still apart of the garden no doubt, but the flora was more delicate, fairy-like even. Encrusted with their own natural sparkles that shone as genuinely as diamonds, the vines and flowers ran rampant in a beautiful wildness. Some of them circled around the central fountain and others crossed over each other. The fountain was crystal and transparently immaculate, the starlight shining through it to naturally illuminate the pouring waters inside.  

"Is this magic?" she breathed, amazed she had any breath left to voice her awe.

"Yes and no. This world is not ordinary, as you know. So, in a sense, everything here is magic, the food you eat, the plants that grow, the people who live here...everything," he reasoned amicably and Chihiro turned to him. He did not look at her, presumably taking in the scene for himself, as he did every time he visited it, as if it were new each time as well. His eyes etched the feeling of a lost boy somewhere in the midst of that androgynous beauty and Chihiro could not quite find her usual boldness to ask him about that boyish sadness that made him seem younger than she suspected he really was. 

"Thank you," she said simply and noted his lips as they curved slightly upward in a genuine smile. Absently, she released his hand that she had unconsciously held still, and walked over to the fountain's nearest edge, leaning on its surface. And she saw herself. Her hair was still up, in the precious hair tie from all those years ago, but she was in the given tunic and hakama, making her seem...not quite herself. The moonlight played on her features in a very different way than the way it did on Kesuke's. It made him seem estranged, yet beautiful. It made her seem...would magical be the word? Not a compliment for herself, but an oddity she knew she would have to later investigate, she surmised that it wasn't only the moonlight at work here. 

It was her own perceptions as well.

But for now, she glanced over at Kesuke who, it seemed had been watching her---though he quickly looked in another direction---and shook her head. Things were not going as she had ever, ever, ever planned...ever. But as it was, she trusted in something Kesuke had said, that had indirectly made her feel better: '...even if he does come back for you.'

He had said it like he was certain that Haku would indeed, come back for her. She had thought so perhaps herself, but it was nice to hear it from someone else and know that against all odds, perhaps, just perhaps she wasn't fooling herself. 

Kesuke wondered why he had brought her here and then remembered, as though he had been suppressing the reason to muddle his own thinking. She had been sad and he had wanted to help cheer her, in any minimal way he could manage. He supposed that was strange; he had never felt the need to help anyone, which has perhaps why the Queen had an eye for him, but then again...ah who knew? Not him. Even he didn't know his own feelings very well. 

Later, when he and she would go back to the palace, she would probably still be the cause of all his most recent mental and inner struggles with his own emotions. She would still probably the stubborn little girl who was plotting every single way she could to escape the Queen. She would probably still veritably hate them for what they...no matter how indirectly...had done to her.

He watched Chihiro sweep her small hand through the clear waters of the fountain softly and rubbed the bridge of his nose slightly. Hate. 

Somehow that just didn't sit well with him.

-------------------------

      "Haku!" It was Lin...again. This was the fifth time she had called his name. This time though, she got a vacant stare and then a blink and then...

     "Oh, Lin. I'm sorry. What was that?" She resisted the urge to smack either herself or him up the head. 

     "Haku," she paused and then drew up a chair near to his and sat in it, staring at him critically. 

     "What?" he sounded as lost as she was sure he felt.

     "You have to sleep. You can't go on without it, and then lead us off into rebellion or on a rescue mission. Look at yourself Haku; you're hellish," she grinned and batted his arm playfully. To her great relief, he actually cracked a wane smile.

     "I bet. But have you looked in your mirror lately?" he countered, letting the insinuation rest in the air.

     "Yes, and I'm nowhere near as bad as you...stubborn dragon," she muttered the last part in exasperation. 

     "I can't sleep Lin," he said softly.

     "Of course you can. Here it's easy. You, stand, walk over to your room, find the general vicinity of your bed and fall into it...not face first though...you'll smother yourself," she added, speaking in slow, pronounced segments to emphasize the simplicity of sleep and its wonders. And then she noticed; the dull and vacant look he had been wearing was replaced with something much worse that cut her to the thickest part of her empathy. Stark, undeniable hopelessness. "Haku..." she began but he cut her off with an empty laugh. 

     "I see her in my dreams Lin. She's...you know I love her. You know when we first met, well, not the first time but in person, face-to-face, everything was utterly platonic. Even when she left, it was still a deep friendship but nothing more. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and I guess they're right because by the time I saw her again, six years later, not but two days ago, I knew I loved her. But now...this absence...it's killing me Lin," he sighed and brushed his hair back out of his face. The usually sensual structure of his face was made somewhat haggard by the sleeplessness and overall lifelessness. 

     "If you love her, you have to sleep," Lin said bluntly.

     "What?" he blinked dumbly.

     "Who will save her if you die from exhaustion or battle because of exhaustion? Sure, we'll try but you're our mastermind and aside from that, who do you think she really wants to see when all of this is over?" Lin lectured him like the child she felt he needed to be treated like to get him out of his depressed stupor. 

     "You have no idea! This exhaustion as you call it, it's not under my control. I can't control the fact that I love her more than life itself Lin. I can't control that every time I close my eyes, it's her image against the black background or her voice I hear inside the empty silence!" His voice cracked at the last sentence and Lin took him softly by the shoulders, eye-to-eye with him; he had gotten taller over the years but Lin was always a very tall kind of being. Hands on his shoulders, she spoke more gently to him.

     "You're right. I have no idea Haku. You shouldn't either and I'm sorry you do. But wouldn't you rather have the real Chihiro back to account for all those voices and images? You can only get her back if you're functioning properly. I think you know that best of all," Lin's voice was that of the comrade he had known since he first came to the bath house...to here...the voice of reason amidst his own personal chaos. And she was right. He didn't even deserve Chihiro if he was going to act like this, apathetic and selfishly desolate. 

     No more.

     His eyes brightened ever so slightly, that familiar Haku magic coming slowly back into them and he, unhurriedly, took Lin's hands off of his shoulders.

     "Thank you Lin. You're right," he smiled, the first real one he had shown in too long, in Lin's opinion and she grinned back and wasted no time in slapping him on the back playfully.

     "Right then. Off to bed commander. You've got a lot of work to do when you wake up," she teased and sauntered off, patting herself on the back for a job well done, cleaning up after the boss and all that jazz...yup...that was Lin alright. Haku shook his head and as he made his way to his room, he paused by a hall mirror and did a double take. Lin had been right.

     He did look hellish. After a moment, he rolled his eyes and entered his room, pushed the covers on the makeshift futon down and fell into it, as instructed. 

     And Haku still dreamt of Chihiro, but instead of lost or betrayed, she looked patient and he knew somehow, that she was waiting for him.

     If all went according to plans, she might not have to wait too long either...

--------------------------------

     The Queen meanwhile, formulated the remains of her own diabolical plans...centering around the very girl everyone else seemed to be thinking of, Chihiro, Pretty, Sen, all one and the same, and all at the center of a deceptive, and precarious scheme. She sat on her throne as usual, magic springing about in front of her in the air in different coded colors. Not taking her eyes away from it all, she noted a figure appear at her right.

     "Kesuke, dear it's good to see you, how is the pretty one doing?" she asked conversationally. 

     "She is coping your Majesty," he replied carefully.

     "Coping? That's a shame. I thought we'd been very hospitable," she commented.

     "She is not used to the grandeur and it is a new place altogether...your Majesty," he reasoned.

     "Ah, I suppose..." the magic snapped into nothingness and her eyes wandered over to Kesuke. He was the epitome of beauty, really. She might have sighed if it were not a complete violation of all she had trained people to believe her to be. So instead, she reached out to pull him to her.

     "Your Majesty?" he questioned, and she was irked suddenly. It was not the first time she had made an advance on him, and, she added mentally, definitely not the last, but he had never been quite so...reluctant...

     "You look tired," she finally said and he nodded, a little too quickly almost. 

     "Yes, I am your Majesty, forgive me," he beseeched.

     "Of course love. Go, rest," she shooed him away, still secretly slightly upset, even angry with his sudden outright refusal of her...he had never exactly reciprocated but before now, he had not avoided her either. She wondered what the cause was and knew it would be apart of her multiple nightly wonderings for quite a while. As his form opened the double doors to exit, she called to him: "Good night Kesuke, I love you."

     "Good night my Queen," he replied and she was not fooled by his change of the still formal title. He was still as platonic and oblivious as ever about how she really did love him...strange as it was. The Queen struggled with her own feelings. Her objectives needed to stay clear. She wasn't meant to love anyone, but she did and it was fogging up those same objectives. 

     This displeased the Queen as you might imagine.

     So she brooded.

     She brooded for hours...and when she finally retired to her chambers, she wondered still.

     It seemed even this Queen, this instigator of conflict...it seemed that even she had all-too normal emotions.

---------------------- 

He checked on her, eyeing her sleeping form, bundled up in the many, many blankets provided for her. She had returned to her room earlier that night with his help and she had, against his wishes, flown for hours it seemed. She had loved it too; it was obvious and he had smiled as though he was partaking in her joy too. Now she slept the sleep of the just. And that was ironic because while she was just, the actions and circumstances surrounding her were not. His eyes darkened a bit. 

     Kesuke wondered why he was being so unnecessarily protective of this girl from another world, this Ogino Chihiro. Why was it he smiled when she smiled? Was his first love, honor, and loyalty to the Queen? Had the Queen not already chosen him personally? Should he not be content? 

     But he wasn't.

     For every time he glanced in the sleeping girl's direction, be it while she was laughing, crying, or yelling, an unnamable warmth crept into him that the Queen had never been able to stir in him. It disturbed him. He should feel nothing. But unless nothing could be called something, that wasn't it. No, he felt something all right and that only meant one thing.

     Trouble.

     He felt suddenly, as he softly closed the door to Chihiro's room, like the least he could do, is truly befriend this girl. Even if he was supposed to be her enemy of sorts, it was obvious after his act tonight that that just wasn't going to happen. No, he even _wanted_ to be her friend.

     Maybe that would help him sort out some of the trouble he knew he was already knee-deep in and sinking. 

----------------------------------

     Chihiro had no prophecy in her dream that night, but something much better. She flew in her dream, but not on her own. No. She flew on a dragon's back and in the receding distance she saw a familiar castle and in the upcoming sight, she saw a beautiful sunrise of crimson and gold. 

     And she smiled a little, even in her sleep as the moonlight streamed in caressing beams down upon her relaxed face through the open windows...curtains thrown back too. Surely this dream was of the future...or something like it. Surely it meant Haku would return for her, just like she somehow knew he wanted to.

     In fact, she could almost hear his voice, soft and heart-warming...hear his voice telling her just to wait for him.

     _Just wait for a little while longer._

     In her dream she whispered on the dragon's back:

     "I will wait _forever_."

     That same softly androgynous moonlight fell down on a certain river god as well and for a moment, for the first time since their re-entry to this world, there was a slight respite of something resembling peace.

There, how's that? ^^ Thank you so much for all of your reviews. You make me ecstatically jubilant, you hear? ^_^

Keep the reviews coming; they're my motivation and inspiration for new chapters to come out. ^_~

If you didn't read the author's note at the beginning, read it. I answered some questions in it, most of them actually I think. ^^

-Kaji


	8. The Best Laid Plans

Disclaimer: it disclaims unfortunately.

**"Ordinary World: Chapter Eight: The Best Laid Plans"**

The Queen grumbled to herself. Chihiro was more stubborn than she had given the girl credit for. She would not tell the Queen anything she did not know already. She would not do as she was told; only come to the summons and then ignored her orders. As punishment, she did not eat but that didn't seem to affect the girl who seemed beyond the physical world...even though this was technically the Spirit world anyway.  Swirling an elegant glass of red wine, she stared contemplatively into its depths. What to do?

     "Kesuke, come to me!" she ordered, a normal speaking voice to an empty room. Empty or not, he was there suddenly, slipping through the nearest shadow to her side. She smiled slightly. 

"Yes my Queen?" he greeted; she frowned.

"In private you may always call me by name," she corrected.

"There are ears everywhere my Queen," he advised subtly and she nodded her agreement. He was right. The level of betrayal these days was uncanny. One day you're on the throne, the next you're usurped by some upstart with keen hearing. 

"Right, well, Kesuke, how do we get the pretty one to open up to us, to _do_ for us?" she asked, almost so casually he missed the importance and danger of the topic...almost.

"I'm not sure my Queen. She is rather...strong-willed," he decided upon.

"Of that I am aware...however, there must be a way..." she paused, and Kesuke could swear he heard the clicking of the gears in her highly informed brain.

"I should have kept her little dragon lover," the Queen mused unhappily. She could have continued to use him to get to Chihiro had she had the foresight but she had been caught in the moment and thus not realized this until too late. If the Queen noticed Kesuke's ever-so slight flinch at the use of the word 'lover,' she didn't make any sign of it. 

"Maybe I should just kill her...there must be another possible...or suitable vassal," the Queen grumbled and Kesuke's heart nearly stopped. He regained his composure fast and in discretion though and faced his Queen.

"My Queen, there is no other. She is in the prophecy; there can be no other," his words were simple but convincing as he always managed to be with that special mixture of intense charisma and strength he always posed to her. 

"I know that," she snapped and then her gaze softened, 

"It's just so discouraging," she sighed. 

"Ah, my Queen, patience. The girl is immature. Surely she will come to see the light of your ways," he coaxed and as more often than not she did, she listened to him. 

"Very well," she replied and, that was that...

"My Queen?" his voice echoed in the shallows of the room's invisible pockets.

"A thought Kesuke..." she pondered aloud. 

"Yes?"

"Bring the girl food. I can't have her waste away before she's of any use to us," the Queen ordered and Kesuke did as he was bidden, making a silent and smooth exit through the shadows, the same way he had come. 

There was a tepid knock at the door. Chihiro threw a meaningless pillow roughly at it.

"I don't want to see her," she yelled. There hadn't been a time she more loathed anyone in her entire natural born life. Queen or not, the woman was a tyrannical nightmare, ordering Chihiro around as though she had been one of her personal slaves from day one. 

"You needn't," came a softly resolute voice and Chihiro jumped. It wasn't some bulky guard with an I.Q. of two to fetch her to her oh-so-supreme majesty...the voice...Kesuke? She hadn't spoken to him in what seemed like ages. Only days it really was, but in a place one has no other real acquaintances, much less friends, Chihiro had come to find quickly that days could seem like years. And they did. 

"Kesuke!" She stumbled through the thick sheets and rolled off of the luxurious bed in haste to get to the door, unlocking it and veritably throwing it open. He smiled benignly down at her, unthreatening and still somewhat aloof all at once. 

"Hungry?" he proffered a tray that seemed to be made of some kind of sturdy clay that held platters of food and a pitcher of water on it. Chihiro nodded, a mixture of confused relief to see a face of someone she did not hate and to smell something to sate the hunger that had existed not but a day ago. When no other food was in prospect, she lost her hunger but at the smell her stomach lurched angrily at her and she wordlessly reached for the tray. 

     He held it out of her reach just slightly.

     "May I join you?" he asked and she nodded even as he was handing the tray to her waiting grasp. She ate at first, cautiously, as though her habits could infringe upon her as some use against her. If Kesuke noticed her furtive behavior at first, he made no indication of it. Chihiro made short work of the meal in any case and so they sat there on the carpeted floor, the food tray a peace line between them.

"Why are you so kind and yet serve such an evil mistress?" Chihiro wondered aloud and Kesuke seemed to be lost for an adequate answer.

"What makes you call me kind?" he asked finally and quirked an eyebrow as though to say she didn't know what she was talking about. 

"It's obvious," was her simple and simultaneously infuriating reply. _Was it?_ He wondered.  

"You have done no wrong of me, and so why should I do any bad unto you?" he countered after yet another too lengthy pause of empty silence. 

"Just because you're kind does not mean you're completely innocent or anything; by doing your Queen's will, you wrong me," Chihiro pointed out sharply. 

"I do only what I have known for the better portion of the life I remember," Kesuke frowned slightly and turned his head a margin so as to avoid eye contact with the distracting girl before him. Chihiro must have thought he broke his gaze for a reason other than that though, the reason being his words and he almost felt her regret before she verbalized it.

"Er...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring to mind anything that would upset you," Chihiro nearly whispered and her own stare dropped to the empty plates in front of her. Kesuke marveled at her repentance. She owed him nothing of the sort; she had been right after all, about him incurring upon her wrongly by doing as the Queen ordered. If anything, he should be the one apologizing and he knew it. 

"You have nothing to be sorry about," he laughed a laugh that worked the magic of disturbing Chihiro; for it was hollow...the sound not of someone who was lost, but someone who had lost. Someone who had given up. 

     A frown and then a sigh transfixed themselves upon Chihiro and Kesuke quirked an eyebrow as if to ask: what?

     "Why are you sad? Even if it's all you know, you chose to know it, didn't you?" Chihiro asked as quiet as a child who was afraid of an impending or possible reprimand from an overly stern parent. Vaguely unnerved by her abrupt change of thought and surprising perception, Kesuke gave up a feeble shrug, one he was certain would look immature even to him. 

"I am not sad." 

"You are not happy."

"And neither are you," he shot back suddenly and immediately felt regret wash over him as her gaze broke into pieces.

"No, I'm not," she admitted, twisting her hands in her lap.

"Now it is I who must apologize. I'm practically the reason you're here after all," Kesuke reasoned to himself more than anyone.

"No!" Chihiro's hands wound themselves into the folds of the bed sheet beside her as her head lowered, chin to chest. "The reason I'm here...he's not even in this castle." Kesuke sighed and rolled his eyes heavenward. _If there is indeed such a place_, he scoffed slightly.  Here he was going from hot to cold and back again with this girl, with this human...human-girl. Why was she making him change so? Or...a thought flickered dimly in some detour of his slumbering mind...or is she just opening his eyes to the real him through his responses to her?

     His left hand reached out to stop her fidgeting and she halted...almost it seemed...she did not breathe. 

     "Do I..." he paused like he was afraid of the question he was about to ask and that she'd answer how he expected, "do I...frighten you?" he asked, like a child imploring if he has done something he shouldn't.

"No," she replied as quietly and if she noted the waves of blue relief in his eyes, she did not comment or hint at such recognition.

"Then why won't you look at me?" 

"I...I..."her eyes became transfixed by the rings she just noticed adorned most of his fingers, each one different...a perfect distraction from the strange sensation flowing through her---one an extremely logical side attributed to her distance from Haku for so long. "These rings...what are they for?" Kesuke relented for the moment and released her hand as gently as something made of glass and preciousness. If she wanted to be evasive, he could live with that. He didn't know all too well himself what was in him to make him behave like this either. Time would help them both.

"This one," he displayed a broad silver band with darker silver engravings of a swirling symbol around a garnet, "I got it from another of the Queen's apprentices...her previous one."

"Why?"

"He died."

"Oh." Her voice did not break but it was tinged with an expected portion of surprise. Chihiro was proud  of herself for at least that much control over letting on to how she felt...she knew that neither Kesuke nor his Queen knew nearly enough about her...she planned to keep it that way. Yet somehow it seemed she was learning more and more inadvertently about Kesuke...and as that happened subconsciously, she was becoming more comfortable.

"Are you alright?" he waved his hand in front of her face and she shook her head impulsively.

"Yes, yes," she nodded quickly as though to allay any suspicions of her thoughts.

"Are you sure?" he persisted, and Chihiro couldn't decide whether she was more disturbed or amazed that his worry could be seen as genuine in his eyes. 

"Yes," she said but she could feel his inner disbelief even before she heard him. 

"Look, I don't want you to think you're my prisoner okay?" he almost demanded it. 

"But..."

"No! I know what I've done...it's not right. Okay? I know that. I don't feel liberated by your imprisonment and nor do I enjoy it, but I have to do this!" it was like he'd cracked under his own pressure and he couldn't stop the emotional outflow he blamed completely on how she made him feel...even though he still wasn't sure exactly how that was. 

"Why?" she cried stood up quickly, and motioned emphatically with her right hand. 

"Because I need to know who I am!"

Silence.

"What?" Chihiro's voice lost all of its boiled anger as she asked this and Kesuke let out a breath, looking as shocked as she was that he had said what he said. "What?" she repeated, firmer this time. She wanted to know. 

     He looked down as though the answer was in his boots and their laces.

     "I need to know who I am," he said softer this time and made a piercing eye-contact with Chihiro. She couldn't break the gaze. 

     So, they stood there.

     Some way across the Spirit World, Haku worked strategy with Lin.

     "No, Lin if we take it this way the fiends will be to both our sides and they can easily back us into no escape," Haku crossed another battle plan out, crumpling the layout and tossing it heedlessly over his shoulder. Lin massaged her temples and groaned. They'd  been working for hours straight, attempting to come up with what Haku entailed as "a full proof rescue."

     Lin had ahem..._other_ words for it.

     "Haku, can't we take the best one and use it? At this rate Sen-"

"Chihiro! Her name is _Chihiro_!" he interrupted brusquely.

"Fine, you're right...but like I was saying, at this rate, Chihiro will never be rescued...all plans have flaws...even if you can't see them, there are somethings you just can't account for!" Lin reasoned with her inherent obstinacy. 

     "But Lin, suppose our 'best one' is one we have yet to think of?" Haku argued just as forcefully. 

"You never can tell," Lin waved her hands in the air and quirked a tired grin. "Look great leader, you sit for one second and keep thinking. Me too, but I'm getting us some food before I keel over," she laughed and walked at a noticeably quicker pace out of the room. Pausing, Haku fell into the chair behind him, running his hand through his hair. 

_What else is there_, he wondered desperately. It had been too long already and he hated waiting but he needed to feel good about this plan, whichever and whatever it was...he needed to know that at the very least, they would get Chihiro back the first time. He knew the second time would be harder on multiple levels unseen...if there even was a second time. 

"Chihiro..." he allowed her name to trace itself across his lips in a languid manner, reflective of his dragon-self. He remembered when he first ran into her...when she couldn't go home...when she had to cross the bridge without being seen...when...Haku's eyes snapped close and open as though waking from a nightmare to the light. 

     "Lin! Lin! I've got it! I know how to save her!"

-------------------------------------------------

GODDAMN it's been forever. Now I have to update all my other stories too. Forgive me for my extensive leave and this pitiful showing. It will improve I promise. Ahhhh time I need more. School sucks time like no man's business. 

Leave some love, comment or whatever. I suppose you know it's **NOT** Lin x Haku or anything like that, but just reiterating. 

-Kaji the ashamed and timeless [without time, not exactly the connotative meaning hehe]


	9. Too Easy

**Ordinary World**  
Chapter 9: Too Easy

* * *

The Merquise Palace was more outside than inside, which is to say, the inners of it were much smaller than the outers. The basic square footage of rooms inside in no way compared to the outdoor courtyards and gardens and labyrinth-like expanses without any ceiling but the sky itself. This, was in their favor, Haku had reasoned before they left. Plenty of foliage to cover them until they absolutely needed to use the similar—but altered—spell he had used all those years ago on Chihiro to get her across the bridge. It was only him and Lin going to fetch her—one to actually fetch and the other more or less to protect—and then a slew of others quiet and powerful in nature to close all openings during their covert entrance and exit. 

Planned and to the best of his ability, perfected, they had set out and now he and Lin crouched flat against one of the stone walls that with any luck, led to some kind of under-used way in—a window, a door, a cellar, a really generous crack in the wall...they'd take just about anything they could find as fast as they could locate it.

"You ready," Lin checked in with the green-eyed spirit and he nodded, alert and alive like she hadn't seen him since his separation from Chihiro. "You're so whipped," she lightly noted and Haku actually let a small smile slip and he shrugged.

"When you are, you are," was all he would say but Lin was laughing very loudly at him in her mind, and she was sure he could tell.

Footsteps were heard and both flattened themselves even more if it was possible as some ten or twenty guardsmen came through leisurely—making nightly rounds probably. A couple were quite clearly intoxicated, stumbling when they should have been straight and so on, but a couple minutes had them clear of the area and Lin let out a mental sigh. No use in this at all if they were caught so early in the game plan.

"This way," Haku motioned and he and Lin disappeared through a side window into the palace itself, making their way toward the girl of a thousand fathoms.

------------------------------------------------

"Chihiro, open your eyes," Kesuke shook his head at the girl. Not only did she have her eyes closed—he was certain—but her hands covered her eyes quite effectively. Moments ago he had given her the briefest but most certain notion that he had no clue who he was, who he really was. A pause had ensued, deep with staring and hands wringing the corners of cloth that would be irrevocably wrinkled thereafter, and then the stubborn brunette had simply begun to sob. This was not quiet cries or whimpers. This was far worse. This was the heartache of a girl who didn't understand hardly anything around her—least of all him—the brokenness of a child in this sixteen year-old, still bereft of what she left behind all those years ago in this world.

And it broke his heart.

For minutes now he had been standing dumbly in front of her, trying to coax her into some semblance of calm, but to no avail. So, awkwardly (very awkwardly) he knelt at her side, encircling her partially with his arms, rubbing his hands up and down her shoulders softly, comfortingly.

"Chihiro, please, I know you're hurt. I didn't mean to upset you, please," he was practically pleading and the blue in his eyes was flecked with gold. A part of him wanted to use magic to ease her disquiet, but he refrained. Somehow he knew that would be more of a hurt than a help to her right now. This time it was she who shook her head at him, a half-smile seeping through the mess of tears and sorely rubbed skin.

"No, no. It's not you, I just...I can't even help myself and I know you have your own problems and I know I can't hate you for what is happening...but all these things I can't do..."her words dissolved into very soft incoherent sobs, the kind that shake a fragile frame such as hers to a point of disturbing anyone else around and Kesuke's eyes widened a little at the violence of her ongoing reaction.

"Chihiro, please," it was becoming his most common phrase, it seemed. "Please, try and take a breath, you'll hurt yourself. I mean, I don't know how, but you might and, oh Chihiro," he frowned somewhat emptily. Had he been so awful? He had tried, been trying to cheer her, ease things for her, and for what? For this strange twisting pain in his own chest, maybe, but her pushed the thought away...

"I'm sorry," she sighed the rest of her feeling away into the night and exhausted, just collapsed further into Kesuke and on impulse, he caught her completely, cradling her and settled her against the frame of the bed. They were still on the floor, not entirely a comfortable place to be and as he adjusted her to be more comfortable, he noticed a couple stray tears trail down her cheek. Her eyes opened slowly and she just stared at him. Gently he brought his hand to her face, wiping the tears away and then, caught in a moment or something, something he would try soon thereafter to explain and justify, he bent in and captured her lips with his. Confused, Chihiro's eyes widened in surprise as Kesuke's mouth engaged with her own—confused not only because she knew this to be wrong but confused at the warmth she sensed there, the longing and...the love? Snapping back to her reality from her reverie though, she placed the flats of her hands on his chest and softly but forcefully pushed him backward from her, gasping slightly short of breath.

"Kesuke?" it was only his name in question form, but it was so much more.

"I, I'm sorry...I just—" the door slammed open, Lin and Haku behind it. The river spirit's eyes glowered at the Queen's apprentice and Lin simply seemed to be ignoring him.

"Get away from her," Lin ordered and with an intense lost and sad feeling about him that only Chihiro seemed to notice, Kesuke not only stepped back, but he dissolved into the shadows of the wall behind him. Chihiro instinctively reached out to him.

"Wait! Where are you going? Kesuke?" she cried, unaware of the strange look she was getting from Lin and the hurt and perplexed one she was receiving from Haku himself. "Kesuke..." his name was a blank whisper that echoed off her lips like loneliness.

Now, Haku wanted very much to ask her when she had gotten so chummy with the enemy, why she seemed hurt at his disappearance rather than relieved, but they had no time and he knew it. Putting his own jealousies aside—and he was to learn he had many where his childhood love was concerned—he knelt down in front of the sullen Chihiro.

"Chihiro, love, come with me," he offered her hand and she took it and the warmth of hers fitting perfectly in his was something she had nearly forgotten. So taken aback by the sensation, by the fulfilling effect, she paused which caused him to look at her worriedly and she threw her arms around him, clutching him to her like she might never see him again. That didn't seem impossible in this world.

"Haku," her tears had returned and he eased her softly.

"Shhh, it's fine Chihiro, we're going now, and everything will be fine. You'll see," he promised her as they stepped outside onto the balcony. Wiping the back of her right hand across her eyes to dry her tears, she sniffled a little.

"Are we going to fly?" she asked curiously.

"I do not think I have enough power to transport both of us even though Lin can take care of herself," Haku admitted dully, not telling her that the reason why was because he had spent much of it on getting deep enough into the palace to find its center where everything could be located.

"I can do it myself," Chihiro said without thinking.

"Fly? Where did you learn to do that?" Haku asked, careful not to sound as though he did not believe in her, but curious all the same.

"Here. Kesuke showed me," she explained and Haku only went "Hm" to that before taking her hand and walking into the night sky, sending mental magic to the others below to let them know they could escape now. Just in case, Lin went back to cue them all and so it was just the two, soaring as fast as it could be safely allowed.

"Chihiro," Haku began, his gaze resting on her meditatively, a dark knot twisting inside him concerning her reaction to Kesuke's disappearance. But when she turned to him, face almost wan but more than that, broken, he could not ask.

"What is it?" she asked, not unkindly and he shook his head, just holding her hand tighter. Later. He would ask her later.

Chihiro meanwhile was worrying on another level. That had seemed disturbingly easy, the get away and everything...the Queen might have been insufferable but that was not in the least the same thing as stupid. She must've known Chihiro had fled...how could she not? Her brown eyes clouding with worry for anyone else tangled up in this, and weighed down by the subtle sullenness of the river spirit to her right, breaking her heart a little more. What had she done? Had he seen the kiss? She would have to explain...but how could she explain to him when she could scarcely explain to herself what was going on? Suppressing a sigh she returned the feeling to Haku of his silent comfort, squeezing his hand softly with hers.

Everything would be okay...wouldn't it? But the night had no answers for her, even as they neared their destination.

------------------------------------------------

Landing, Haku led more than guided Chihiro within the encampment, into the halls near his room and then finally to his rooms, of which there was his sleeping chamber, the sitting area and a small corridor. Her feet she tried to keep as quiet as possible as everything else around them seemed soundless too and her eyes glued themselves to the floor out of old habit, her one hand in Haku's and the other clenching the corner of her shirt in a death grip.

"Sit," he offered to her with a strange formality that threw her and Chihiro could do nothing but obey, taking seat in the offered chair. He took the one across from her. And suddenly, she felt like she was in a meeting.

"Chihiro, I—"

"Haku—"

They both paused and laughed a little emptily. Quiet ensued again...

"What did they do to you?" he asked quietly.

"Nothing really," she answered lamely. "I mean, aside from taking you from me...they didn't do anything else after that," she corrected and because she could not bring herself to bring her gaze from the floorboards, she missed the flash of relief in his eyes as they softened towards her. Not only did Haku feel his pulse steady a little out of relief that she was virtually unharmed but also his soul lifted a little at her mention of their separation, though it was more _how_ she mentioned it that helped. She sounded like she had missed him, he thought in relief. So caught up in said relief he didn't quite register her suddenly somewhat irritated stare.

"What?" he asked without thinking.

"Of course I missed you, you idiot dragon! It broke my heart," she exclaimed, tears rushing out again and she hated them so much even now. If only she could stop them, but she couldn't and even as she looked down as she rubbed her eyes with her hands, two other hands encircled her wrists, holding them from her, but not roughly, just holding.

"How did you know I was worried?" he asked calmly.

"I don't know, I just, didn't you say something?" she asked, abruptly quite confused. He shook his head, wisps falling into his eyes slightly in a way Chihiro's heart warmed at without warning...she really had missed him.

"I did not. What else did..." and Haku's eyes narrowed. Now it was Chihiro's turn for brevity.

"What?" she asked and he released one of her wrists to tilt her chin up slightly, examining—it seemed—intently, her lips.

"Who did this?" he tried to smother the very primal growl at the back of his throat but could not quite and his voice came out rather strangled. Chihiro touched her free hand to her lips absently...this was not how she had hoped to tell him...

"Haku, I—" she began but her voice failed her at the pain in his eyes and, to her fear, the definite upset and...anger?

"You _what_?" he prompted maybe too harshly and she looked down away from him again. He cursed himself. What he wouldn't give for something to be simple for them...what he wouldn't give, indeed. With new tenderness, he turned her back to him again and asked more kindly, "what happened, Chihiro?" She took in a deep breath.

"WellIwasreallyupsetandyouknowhewasreallynicetomethewholetimebutiguesssomethinghappenedandalloftehsuddenhewaskissingmeandthat'sallimeanipushedhimawaybut..." she took in another breath and exhaled deeply, sincerely hoping she had covered all major points.

"Did you kiss him?" Haku asked with such an even tone, it chilled her.

"I don't think so," she said. That was the most honest answer she had for him. Nodding, as if to himself, he released her completely and stepped back but before he could take another Chihiro shook her head violently and grabbed his arms with her hands. "No you don't Kohaku River, no! You are not running from me. I love you!" And she held herself to him for she didn't know how long, but she did so until slowly, cautiously even, her counterpart's arms embraced her too. "I don't think so and that's the best I have," she repeated into his chest and he sighed the deepest of sighs.

"I should trust you more," he admitted and she mumbled something into his chest again, something like 'yeah, you should,' but he let it pass, content just to hold her close to him again, inner and outer turmoil aside for now...

------------------------------------------------

Somewhere outside the Palace in the labyrinth Lin and the others were having a harder time, battling it out with about every decent demon in the Queen's service. Lin's shoulder had a deep gash on it and one of her eyes was hurt and while some others were in better shape, more of them were in worse and she was getting worried. She had tried to send word to Haku through every means available to her but there was some invisible shield activated now, some invisible force that served like interference and it was disabling all communication.

"Stop fighting, just run!" her command rang loudly and the support began to haphazardly but surely burl past her as she tried to take up the back, protectively. Unfortunately something grabbed her by the arm connected to the bad shoulder and she cried out, wincing. Eyes cast over her shoulder, well, her one good eye, she glowered.

"You again," Lin scowled and Nori just smiled.

"Hard to get rid of, harder than you thought anyway," said witch chirped and was about to make something of an unbearable and villainy statement when she seemed to lose her breath and then toppled over practically on top of Lin.

"Wha—?" Lin started but Kesuke materialized from the nearest shadow and she was stuck for words. "You..." she trailed off as he shoved the body of Nori off of her and helped her up. "...why?" she finally came back with and Kesuke's noticeably scarred face smiled sadly. Blood was dripping from the scar that slanted across his left cheek, marring the otherwise flawless, if now dirtied flesh. Lin cringed inwardly. His attire was torn in many places and he as bleeding from many other wounds as well. He must've been fighting his way through them.

"Because she helped me," he answered and then pushed her away, "Go, go before you can't leave again. You're the last here of yours, I promise." Lin kept on turning back to him as she retreated and just as she was climbing into an emergency wormhole designed to take her much, much closer to where she needed to be in one bound, she saw the things that were attacking her and all the others turn on him completely with no one else to divert their attentions to.

And before she could even consider going back to help, the hole had closed and she was floating back closer to here they were supposed to be.

* * *

Yes I know, it's been FOREVER. I'm working on it, I promise. Sorry this is not very long or anything...sigh. Hope someone still sort of likes this. Aiya. 

Now to work on Angelic High and Extended Visit Only for You...and then I'll be back here again. On another note, I JUST SAW HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE...if I didn't have so many other fics to finish...:rubs hands together gleefully: oh the mayhem that could ensue!

Ah well. Someday. For now, let me know what you think and for those of you who still remember this and have stuck with it so far, thank you so much. It means a lot to a writer who until recently, was disenchanted with her art form.

All thanks and apologies,

-Kaji


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